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HANDBOOK 


OF THE 


PIERPONT MORGAN WING 





fee TROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN 
WING 


———s 


A HANDBOOK 


JOSEPH BRECK 


ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 
CURATOR OF DECORATIVE ARTS 


AND 


NeyRIC R- ROGERS 


ASSISTANT CURATOR 


NEW YORK 
MCMXXV 





PREFACE 


This Handbook has been written to serve a two- 
fold purpose: first, to provide brief but informative 
comment upon the objects exhibited in the galleries 
of the Pierpont Morgan Wing, and, secondly, to 
supplement this description by a series of general 
chapters on the development of the major and minor 
arts—with some consideration of political, social, and 
economic conditions—in the periods represented in 
the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. 

The first half of the Handbook, Parts I-IV, on 
mediaeval and Renaissance art, is the work of the 
undersigned. When this book was begun, several 
years ago, I had hoped to have the codperation of 
Miss Myrtilla Avery in the writing of the section on 
mediaeval art; but after some preliminary work had 
been done, it was found impossible, to my regret, to 
continue this plan, owing to the demands upon 
Miss Avery’s time as Associate Professor of Art at 
Wellesley College. 

With the exception of Part VIII and of a few 
passages in the preceding chapters, the second half 
of the book, dealing principally with French art of 
the seventeenth: and eighteenth centuries, is the 
work of Mr. Rogers; it was written when Mr. Rogers, 

Vv 


PREFACE 


now Professor of Art at Smith College, was an Assist- 
ant Curator in the Department of Decorative Arts of 
this Museum. 

JosEPpH Breck. 


April 12, 1924 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

INTRODUCTION rier 
HANDBOOK OF THE pee NMoteeN WING 


Part I. Gallo-Roman and Germanic Anti- 
quities 
Gallery F 1 ae ; 
Part IJ. Early Christian, Byzantine, nels 
lingian, and Romanesque Art 


Chapter I. Introduction 
Chapter I]. Gallery F 2 


Peer tit) Gothic Art 

Chapter I. Introduction 

Cmapters ll.) Gallery F 3 

Ohaptera lili > Gallery F 4 ube ee! 

Chapter IV. Gallery F 5. The Sculp- 
tures from the Chateau of 
Biron 

Giantess —~V.. Gallery F ae 

Saaprer eV li Gallery F 7. Gothic and 


Renaissance Art . 


Part IV. Renaissance Art . 
Chapter I. Introduction 
Chapter JI. Gallery F 8 

Part V. French Art—XVII Century 
Chapter I. Introduction 
fiaper Il. Gallery Fo 


vil 


CONTENTS 


Part VI. French Art—First Half of the 
XVIII Century 


Chapter Ih 
Chapter, sagul 


Chapter III. 


Chapter ~ IV; 
Chapter" V. 
Chapter VI. 


Chapter VII. 
Chapter VIII. 
Chapters ie 


Introduction . ae 
Gallery F 10. Late XVII 
and Early XVIII Century 
Staircase and Gallery F 
11. The Collection of Or- 
molu 

Gallery F 12 

Gallery F 13 
Gallery F 14932 Louis 
XV Boiserie ; 
Gallery F 15. French Art 
—Mhid-X VIII Century 
Gallery F 16. French Art 
—Mid-X VIII Century 
Gallery F 17. French Art 
—XVIII Century Faience 


Part VII. French Art—Second Half of the 
XVIII and the ma XIX Cen- 


tury 
Chapter i 
Chapters sal 


Chapters Le 


Chapter IV. 


Chapter tava 
Chapter VI. 


Introduction 
Galleries F 18 and 19 
Galleries F 20, 21, and 22. 
The Hotel Gatlin Boise- 
ries . 2 te 
Gallery F 23. The Hu- 
bert Robert Paintings 
from Bagatelle 

Gallery F 24 

Gallery F 25 


Part VIII. The Collection of Watches 


Gallery F 26 


INDEX OF PRopER NAMES . 


GENERAL INDEX . 


Vill 


PAGE 


249 
201 


269 


274 
282 
286 


290 
204 


297 


301 


211 
Sas 
336 


S40 


350 
354 
358 
363 
365 

37 
379 


FIGURE 
I. 


' ILLUSTRATIONS 


Iron belt buckle, plated with silver 

Chatelaine plaque, silvered bronze 

Four objects in silver-gilt from the so- 
called Military Tomb at Vermand . 

Scythian gold buckle, under Roman in- 
fluence . 

Bronze fibula. : 

Circular fibula, bronze cere nat eal 

Glass cup with applied decoration 

Consular diptych, ivory, 521 A.D. . 

Dormition of the Virgin, ivory, X—XI 
century... 

The Virgin er ined: (coeabaann ivory 
plaque... 

The Virgin nail Ghaes lod oad 
French, XII century . 

Saint John the be eelict aeenel 
Rhenish, about 1180 

Leaf of ivory noe Brenicne XI cen- 
tury. 

Gold buckle. “ayn Ai ctbst Teens 

Silver bucket. The Albanian Treasure . 

Gold cup. The Albanian Treasure .. 


17,18. Two silver dishes, Syrian, VI century 


Ig. 


Gold bracelet, probably Syrian, VI cen- 
tury Sen aT eer, oe 
1x 


PAGE 


FIGURE 


20. 
21; 
22. 
DR 
24. 


she 
26. 


27% 
28. 


29. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Gold necklace, probably Syrian, VI cen- 
tury 

Ivory itera areslneasts Syrian, Ve cen- 
tury 

Ivory pyx, neon or cca VI 
century 

Ivory casket, Beene [X_X cone 

Ivory plaque, Byzantine, XI-XII century 

Ivory situla, German, about 1000 

Crucifixion, ge Byzantine, X—XI cen- 
tury . 

Crucifixion, ivory, Sieh ‘XI cane 

Four medailiones cloisonné enamel on gold, 
Byzantine, XI century ; 

Enameled reliquary, Byzantine, VII _VII 
century 

Saint William, Limores XH centered 

Virgin, French, XL century, : 

neha plaque from a chAsse, ae 
XIII century 

Enameled plaque fron D “chat Sek: 
XCEL century. 

The Baptism of Christ, enamel plaque 
by Godefroid de Claire 

Candlestick, XII century meétalieeten 

Chasse, Spanish, XIII century 

Book-cover, German, XIII century 

Silver cross, Spanish, XII century 

Reliquary, early XIII century  . 

Fragment of a choir stall, English a XIV 
century 

Wood-carving, Naereen aboue I 600 

Tapestry, Arras, about 1435 

x 


PAGE 


AI 


45 


FIGURE 


43: 
44. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Reliquary, Italian, XV century 

Virgin, wood statuette, ey about 
1300 

Mourner, Pench Nie XV century 

Saint Michael, Renn about 1475 

The Annunciation, ie Roger van der 
Weyden 

Carved wood chest, Rreneh XV rte: 

Ivory diptych, Atelier of the Diptychs of 
the Passion, French, XIV century . 

Enameled shrine, Limoges, XIII century 

Champlevé enamel, Limoges, XIII cen- 
Get. i ee ae i ae 

Chasse, champlevé Saas Limoges, 
about 1200 

Christ, late XII century 

Enameled cross, Limoges, XIII oon 

Saint james, Limoges, XIII century . 

Visitation, French, XIV century . 

Reliquary (chasse aux oiseaux), Reench 
XIII century . 

French ivory-carving, NES? As aie Dip: 
tychs with Rosettes, early XIV century 

French ivory-carving, Atelier of the Dip- 
tych of the Treasury of Soissons, end 
of XIII century 

French ivory-carving, heiver iE ane Din 
tychs with Rosettes, early XIV century 

French ivory-carving, Atelier of the Tab- 
ernacles of the Virgin, first half of the 
XIV century 

Ivory casket, French, XIV ane 

Ivory statuette, French, about 1300 . 

XI 


10g 


10g 


10g 


10g 
Tiel 


am 


64. 
65. 
66. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Tapestry, Tournai, about 1440 

Virgin, French, XIV century . —. 

Leaf of ivory diptych, probably Engew 
MVicen tural 

Leaf of ivory Ais it Saale ily Bhelishe 
Xx Vitcentticyanen ae 

Saint Christopher, rani, XV oa 

Reliquary, Spanish, XVI century. 

Saint Yrieix, reliquary head, XV nes. 

Painted enamel, Limoges: Monvaerni 

Saint Catherine, French, XV century 

Flagon, German, XIV—XV century 

Drinking-horn, German, XV century. 

The Entombment from the Chateau of 
Biron, French, about 1510-15 : 

The Biron Pieta, French, about 1500. 

Virgin from a crucifixion group, French, 
XV century 

Virgin, French, school a6 Tomieames Meant, 
1480—go 

Statuette, German, Asai 1690 

Dormition of the Virgin, Calcar schol 
early X Vi centuryaee 

Saint Barbara, school of Nikelaae et Ley 
den ; 

Church hathes Bronce XV connie’ 

Reredos, Spanish, XV century, style of 
Pere Johan de Vallfogona wire 

Virgin, French, XV century Py: 

Wood-carving, Rhenish, XV century 

Saint Nicholas, Flemish, about 1500 . 

Saint Catherine, French, about 1500 . 

Nativity, French, XV century. 

Xi 


PAGE 


116 


FIGURE 


89. 


go. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Education of the Virgin, French, school 
of Troyes, about 1510-15. 
Saint-Porchaire Faience, Eronche XVI 
century. 
Nevers faience, Brenchs XVII Stine 
Jasper cup, enameled and jeweled, Ben- 
venuto Cellini (?) 
Charles V, attributed to licone Wesni 
Mirror fame German, XVI century 
Saint Andrew, marble, by Andrea Bregno 
Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, 
by Raphael . 
Pe etalian, XVI Irae 
Glass Wages Venetian, about 1500 
Crystal plaque, by Conan Bernardi a 
Castel Bolognese 
Crystal shrine, by Adam van Rahnen 
Boxwood shrine, Se aa XVI 
century ana, 
Chalice, nay: 1609 fhe 
Triumph of Charles V, by Hone. Deer 
iGasloee puict . 
Jewel, Petar XVI contuee 
Prudence, French, XVI century . . 
Pax made for Contbell Giovanni Borgia 
Silver-gilt dish, Portuguese, X VI century 
Cabinet, style of Sambin, French, XVI 
century 
Ewer, Medici pote ain . 
Double cup, Nuremberg, XVI oinarer 
Niello cup, Augsburg, XVI century 
Covered cup, Nuremberg, about 1580 . 
Covered cup, German, XVI century 
Xi 


be 


1$g 
160 


167 
16g 
173 
tre 


136 


IgI 
192 


ee: 
197 


£99 
200 


201 
203 
204 
206 
207 


209 
210 
aga 
212 
213 
210 





FIGURE 
II4. 
Ten 
116. 
Dla 


hire 
1g. 
etey. 
hes 
129% 


127: 
124. 
I2¢. 
126, 
127 
128, 
129. 
130. 
i3t 
ig bas 
AS. 
Tse 
136. 


136. 
137. 


138. 
139. 


140, 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Casket, Augsburg, XVI century 

Arm-chair, Louis XIV period 

Armoire, French, about 1700... 

Marble portrait bust, French, XVII. cen- 
tury ae 

View of Ciltsa: F< 9 

Plateau, Rouen, about 1720-50 . 

Diana, German, XVI century 

Torchére, French, about 1700 

Gilt wood sconces, French, middle nf 
AV IL century = uae 

Panel, style of Chearne cus 

View of alcove, French, about 1720-25 

Ormolu, French, XVIII century 

Painting by Charles Eisen 

View of Gallery F 12 . 

View of Gallery F 13 . 

View of Gallery F 14 . 

Brazier, Louis XV style 

Rouen plate with arms of Louis Poterat 

Rouen plate, about 1750 . 

Moustiers ewer, early XVIII century 

Plateau, Rouen, about 7os5— 20s 

Plateau by Guillibaud (?), Rouen, abone 
1710-20 . 

Plate by Gaillipeee Rowen Bar: 190 

Plateau by Pierre ma Rouen, 
about 1720 . Uae: 

Louis XVI painted panel ; 

Over-door painting attributed to Mine 
Vallayer-Coster ae 

View of bedroom, Louis XVI aE ie ae 
from the Hétel Gaulin, Dijon . 

X1V 


PAGE 
213 
239 


227 


233 
esky 
245 
247 
253 


259 
263 
Ovi 
277 
279 
283 
287 
291 
ee 
302 
3O9 
304 
305 


39% 
397 


308 
oi5) 


Bag 


eee. 


FIGURE 
I4l. 
142. 


143. 


144. 
146. 


146. 


147. 
148. 
149. 
150. 


ES]. 


£52) 


ER 3s 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Carnet de bal, miniature by Sicardi 

Painted ae French, period of Louis 
PAL ViLce. 

Carnet de bal, miniature of Wee Nie 
toinette, by tate picardi . 

Box with painting by van Brenton 

View of library, Louis XVI woodwork 
from the Hétel Gaulin, Dijon . 

View of salon, Louis X VI woodwork from 
the Hétel Gaulin, Dijon 

Painting by ober Robertaes e 

Louis XVI door panel from the inulbagtes 

Louis XVI shop-front 

Table watch, Nuremberg, about 1660 

Watch by David ene bees 
enamelicase i. .  . 

Watch by D. Vauchez 


Enameled watch-case by Morliére 


XV 


PAGE 


327 
He, 


341 
342 


345 


347 
She 
355 
361 
366 


367 
368 


369 





iC .s 
- 


INTRODUCTION 


The tablet in the Fifth Avenue hall of the Museum, 
erected in 1920 by the Trustees in memory of the 
late J. Pierpont Morgan, bears the following in- 
scription, composed by the Hon. Joseph H. Choate: 


ERECTED BY THE MUSEUM IN GRATEFUL REMEM- 
BRANCE OF THE SERVICES OF JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN 
FROM 1871 TO 1913 AS TRUSTEE BENEFACTOR AND 
PRESIDENT. HE WAS IN ALL RESPECTS A GREAT CITIZEN. 
HE HELPED TO MAKE NEW YORK THE TRUE METROPO- 
LIS OF AMERICA. HIS INTEREST IN ART WAS LIFELONG. 
HIS GENEROUS DEVOTION TO IT COMMANDED WORLD- 
WIDE APPRECIATION. HIS MUNIFICENT GIFTS TO THE 
MUSEUM ARE AMONG ITS CHOICEST TREASURES. VITA 
PLENA LABORIS. 


From the first days of the Museum, Mr. Morgan 
contributed generously to the support of this insti- 
tution, of which he became a Trustee in 1888 and 
President in 1904. His first recorded gift of a work 
of art was in 1897, but in the last decade of his life, 
which corresponded with his most active period as a 
collector, Mr. Morgan’s gifts and loans were numer- 
ous and constant. 

Among the gifts may be noted such single objects 

XV11 


INTRODUCTION 


as the portrait of Christopher Columbus by Sebas- 
tiano del Piombo, given in 1900; the large altarpiece 
of the Assumption of the Virgin by Benvenuto di 
Giovanni, given in 1910; the set of Gothic tapestries 
figuring the Sacraments, given in 1907; the alabaster 
altarpiece from Zaragoza, given in 1g0g; and the 
bas-reliefs from the Temple of Rameses I at Abydos, 
given in Igtt. Of outstanding importance was the 
gift in 1906 of the post-Renaissance section of the 
Georges Hoentschel Collection. This part of the 
famous collection formed by the noted French decora- 
tor and architect included principally French wood- 
work, furniture, decorative paintings, and ormolu of 
the late seventeenth and the eighteenth century. The 
gift immediately placed the Museum in an enviable 
position with respect to the representation in its 
collections of this period of the decorative arts. At 
the same time, Mr. Morgan lent to the Museum for 
an indefinite period the mediaeval and Renaissance 
section of the Hoentschel Collection, which com- 
prised notable examples of sculpture, tapestry, and 
other works of art of the earlier periods. The Hoent- 
schel Collection was received by the Museum in 
1907 and, after a temporary exhibition of part of the 
collection, was installed with other exhibits of decora- 
tive arts in the newly constructed Wing F, which was 
opened to the public in tg10. Among Mr. Morgan’s 
other loans to the Museum, previous to the epochal 
Loan Exhibition of 1914-1916, may be noted the 
Garland Collection of Chinese porcelains, acquired 
by Mr. Morgan in 1902 and subsequently increased 
by numerous additions; and the beautiful Gothic 
sculptures from the chapel of the Chateau of Biron, 
lent in 1907. The record of Mr. Morgan’s donations 
Xvill 


INTRODUCTION 


would be incomplete without a mention of his liberal 
support of the Museum’s Egyptian expeditions. 

In 1912, Mr. Morgan sent to the Museum the 
collections which he had assembled in his London 
residence, Prince’s Gate, and in his country place, 
Dover House, together with collections on loan in the 
Victoria and Albert Museum and in the National 
Gallery, London, and other acquisitions which had 
accumulated in Paris. Over four thousand objects 
made the hegira across the Atlantic. Before plans 
had been completed, however, for their exhibition, 
Mr. Morgan died in Rome on March 31, 1913. It 
was thus his ill fate never to see brought together in 
one exhibition the entire collection of works of art 
which, with characteristic, purposeful energy and 
keen discrimination, he had formed within a sur- 
prisingly brief period of years. 

Fortunately, he was succeeded by a son no less 
eminently gifted and public-spirited. Within two 
months after his father’s death, the younger Mr. 
Morgan authorized the Museum to proceed with the 
exhibition of his father’s collections, pending a future 
decision as to their ultimate disposition. This cele- 
brated Loan Exhibition, which occupied the entire 
second floor of Wing H, was opened on February 
17, 1914. The exhibition continued until May 28, 
1g16. 

A few months previous, in February, 1916, Mr. 
Morgan gave to the Museum the world-famous 
Colonna altarpiece by Raphael, which had been ex- 
hibited in the Museum since 1912; the Biron sculp- 
tures, previously referred to; and the mediaeval and 
Renaissance section of the Hoentschel Collection, 
which, as already noted, had been lent to the Museum 

X1X 


INTRODUCTION 


by his father in 1907. This munificent gift was fol- 
lowed in December, 1917, by the gift of over three 
thousand objects from the collections which had 
formed part of the Loan Exhibition of 1914-1916. In 
this gift were comprised—to note some of the prin- 
cipal features—Assyrian, Egyptian, and classical 
antiquities; Germanic and Gallo-Roman remains; 
the magnificent collections of Byzantine, Roman- 
esque, and Gothic enamels and ivories; mediaeval and 
Renaissance metalwork, sculpture, jewels, crystals, 
amber, and other precious examples of the decorative 
arts; French pottery of the sixteenth, seventeenth, 
and eighteenth centuries, including the Le Breton 
Collection; the superb Negroli casque, a masterpiece 
of the Renaissance armorer’s art; a large collection 
of snuff-boxes and other small objects in gold and 
enamel, exquisitely jeweled and ornamented; a watch 
collection of the first order; several fine paintings, 
including the Annunciation by Roger van der Wey- 
den and the set of decorative panels by Hubert 
Robert from Bagatelle; and various specimens of 
Oriental art such as a group of Arabic mosque-lamps 
of enameled glass, a rare Chinese bronze vessel of the 
Chou period, and remarkable examples of Indian 
carpet weaving. 

In making this princely gift to the Museum, Mr. 
Morgan carried out the desire of his father that 
a large and valuable proportion of the collections 
housed in the Museum in 1913 should come into the 
possession of the American people, thus enlarging 
their opportunities for the study and enjoyment of 
art. 

Wing F, where the Hoentschel Collection had been 
shown since 1910, was now devoted to the permanent 

xX 


INTRODUCTION 


exhibition of the Morgan Collection, and officially 
designated, by vote of the Trustees, the Pierpont 
Morgan Wing. The installation of the collection was 
undertaken as expeditiously as possible, and on June 
II, 1918, the Pierpont Morgan Wing was opened 
to ine public. Here, with some exceptions,! are ex- 
hibited the works of art presented to the Museum by 
Mr. Morgan and his son. Since the opening of the 
wing the collection has been increased by several wel- 
come gifts from Mr. Morgan of eighteenth-century 
French woodwork—notably the Jdoiseries from the 
Hétel Gaulin at Dijon, the installation of the collec- 
tion has been perfected, and the wing is now devoted 
exclusively? to the Morgan Collection. 

Works of art earlier in date than the second quarter 
of the eighteenth century are shown in the galleries on 
the first floor of the wing; the second floor is devoted 
to the art of the eighteenth century. The collection 
is arranged in chronological sequence. The visitor 
is advised to proceed from the entrance vestibule 
(Germanic and Gallo-Roman antiquities) at the 
south end of the main hall to the west side-galleries? 
(Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, and 
Gothic art); then, returning through the main hall 
(Gothic and Renaissance art) enter the series of side- 
galleries on the east (Renaissance and French art of 
the Louis XIV and Regency periods) through which 


the visitor proceeds to the staircase leading to the 


1The paintings, the Assyrian, Egyptian, and most of the classical anti- 
quities, including the Gréau Collection, and some miscellaneous objects, 
including the Oriental works of art, are exhibited elsewhere in the building. 

2With the exception of a few objects which, by Mr. Morgan’s permis- 
sion, are here shown for their educational value in relation to other 
objects in the collection. 

3On the visitor’s left as he enters the wing. 


XX1 


INTRODUCTION 


second floor, where the circuit is continued on the 
east side by galleries of French art of the Regency and 
Louis XV periods, and, on the west, by a correspond- 
ing series devoted to the art of the Louis XVI period. 


xxii 


Bena 


GALLO-ROMAN 
AND 
GERMANIC 
ANTIQUITIES 


VN a ow 





Cry Let a yoes Lee 


Although most visitors to the Museum are 
probably familiar to’some extent with the dress and 
manners of the ancient Romans, it is more than 
doubtful if this bowing acquaintance, so to speak, 
with the past extends to the Germanic invaders who 
overwhelmed the Roman Empire in the fifth century 
of our era. _Countless works of Roman art, in which 
contemporaneous costume is illustrated, have come 
down to us: but the barbarian hordes were little 
versed in the monumental arts and unskilled in figure 
representation; it was in metalworking, in the making 
of weapons and other utilitarian objects, or in the 
delicate ornament of the goldsmith’s art, that they 
excelled. 

Fortunately, however, it was a general custom 
among the Germanic tribes to bury with the dead the 
weapons, ornaments, and utensils which they had 
possessed during life!; and excavations have brought 
to light not only a vast quantity of material deposited 
in graves but also valuables buried for safety, votive- 
offerings, and occasional lost objects. Inadequate as 


1The known Germanic cemeteries are very numerous. In ancient 
Gaul alone (France, Switzerland, and the adjacent parts of Germany) 
about 2,300 cemeteries have been listed. The Germanic cemeteries, 
however, vary greatly in extent—from a few interments to the 4,500 
graves opened in the cemetery of Keszthély in Hungary. 


3 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


these remains may appear when compared with the 
abundant records of Roman civilization, they are 
yet sufficient to permit one to form a fairly definite 
picture of the long-haired, fair-skinned Germanic 
warrior at the time when the barbarian kingdoms 
were in the making. 

The infantryman, Tacitus tells us, went into battle 
wearing only a simple cloak. The outfit of the 
chieftain or leader was more extensive. We see him 
clad in breeches and short-sleeved tunic; his feet pro- 





FIG. 1. TRON BELT BUCKLE PLATED Witte Stivii t 


tected by laced shoes of hairy skin, to which are 
attached bands wound around the legs below the 
knees; his waist encircled by a metal-studded belt 
fastened by a buckle between two large plaques of 
iron or bronze decorated with silver (fig. 1). The 
belt supports his scramasax—a heavy, single-edged, 
straight-bladed cutlass—and a pouch which held 
various objects such as a comb, shears, and tweezers. 
At his left side hangs his sword, or spatha, suspended 
from the shoulder by a baldric, and carried like the 
scramasax in a sheath, generally of wood, covered 
perhaps with hide. A throwing-axe and a spear are 
his other weapons; and a shield of wicker or of wood, 
covered with leather and mounted with a metal boss 


and hand-grip, affords protection. The shield is 
4 


GALLO-ROMAN AND GERMANIC ANTIQUITIES 


supplemented perhaps by a helmet and by rudimen- 
tary chain-orscale-armor. If he wears a mantle, it is 
secured by a large brooch, no less richly ornamented 
than those (usually worn in pairs) fastening the cloak 
which the woman wears over her shift, or under-tunic, 
of linen. Around her neck is a string of large beads 
of amber or variegated glass. Ear pendants, arm- 
lets, rings, and hair-pins are 
among her personal ornaments. 
She too carries a pouch for her 
small possessions; and other 
objects, keys, for example, are 
attached to a metal disk (fig. 2) 
of openwork design, worn at 
the belt. 

A notable collection of bar- 
baric art is exhibited in the en- 


trance gallery at the south end FIG. 2. 


of the large hall of the Morgan CO a 
Wing. The majority of the ex- 

hibits are Germanic, but the collection also includes 
some Celtic (Gallic) and Gallo-Roman objects, and 
even some purely Roman or Byzantine.’ 

With the exception of a small collection of metal- 
work from the Caucasus and a few pieces of Scytho- 
Siberian style, the material here exhibited is com- 
posed of three collections purchased by Mr. Morgan 
in 1910 and Igi1. One of these, the Queckenberg 
Collection, is made up of the contents of not less than 
twenty-five graves in a Frankish cemetery at Nieder- 
breisig, a small village between Coblenz and Bonn. 


*In the absence of any records of excavation, it is impossible to state 
whether some of the objects included in the collection, manifestly Roman 
or Byzantine in origin, were found in the graves or secured from other 
sources. 





5 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The second collection was brought together by a 
Paris dealer, Stanislas Baron; the objects are said 
to have come mainly from Merovingian tombs in the 
north of France (chiefly Picardy) and in the south; 
but we know the definite provenance of only one 
group, the contents of the so-called military tomb 
at Vermand (fig. 3). The third collection is com- 
posed of objects reputed to have been found in 
some ten ancient cemeteries in the Marne and Aube 
valleys. 

The purely Roman and Byzantine objects in the 
collection are readily distinguished from the barbaric 
material by a marked difference in style, as well as 
by greater delicacy of workmanship, skilled modeling, 
and the use of engraved gems. 

The Gallo-Roman objects, principally jewelry, rep- 
resent one phase of the provincial Roman art which 
flourished in the prosperous cities of Gaul under the 
Pax Romana. At the time of Caesar’s conquest of 
Gaul, the region had long been inhabited by Celtic 
tribes, whose art had its own motives and forms 
showing a preference for linear design and simple 
geometric patterns, delicately rendered; a notable 
feature is the use of enamel,® usually in the champ- 
levé technique. The Roman conquest did not ex- 
tinguish this native art,‘ but so transformed it that 
it became a provincial style of the Empire, known as 
Gallo-Roman. 


’Colored vitreous pastes (glass) fused on to the surface of metal or into 
compartments either hollowed out of the metal (champlevé) or built up 
by soldering metal strips to the plate in the form desired (cloisonné). 
See pages 54, 57, 92, 96 for a further account of enamel. 

4In the seventh and eighth centuries, Celtic art flourished anew in the 
British Isles, where it had taken refuge, and achieved remarkable results 
in manuscript illumination, carving, and metalwork. 


6 





FIG. 3. FOUR OBJECTS IN SILVER-GILT FROM THE SO- 
CALLED MILITARY TOMB AT VERMAND. ASCRIBED 
TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE IV CENTURY 
A, B, AND C ARE PARTS OF A SPEAR. D IS A BUCKLE 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


In the fifth century, Gaul was invaded by the Van- 
dals on their way into Spain, and by the Visigoths 
who conquered southwestern Gaul and a large part 
of Spain. Under the leadership of Clovis, who suc- 
ceeded his father, Childeric, in 481, the Salian Franks, 
who occupied what is now Holland and Belgium (the 
other branch of the Franks, the Ripuarians, dwelling 
further inland on the banks of the Rhine), seized the 
portion of northern Gaul which still remained subject 
to Roman authority, and in $07 further extended this 
domain by conquering the Visigothic kingdom of 
Toulouse. In the second half of the sixth century, 
the Franks absorbed the territory held by the Bur- 
gundians, Allemanni, and Bavarians, so that a vast 
domain now awaited the consolidating genius of 
Charlemagne. In the meantime, the Frankish con- 
quests had brought Roman rule in Gaul to an end, 
and the ravaged land was plunged into a condition of 
barbarism only gradually ameliorated through the 
progress of Christianity and through political and 
commercial contact with more civilized lands. Under 
Clovis and his successors, the Merovingian kings, art 
was more or less chaotic. On the one hand, the na- 
tive Frankish art, best exemplified in metalworking, 
maintained its Germanic character. But, on the 
other, we find Byzantine art entering in the train of 
the Church, embellishing the Merovingian basilicas 
described by Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours; nor 
must we disregard the influence of the articles of 
luxury imported from the Eastern Empire and the 
Orient by the “Syrian” merchants in Gaul. It was 
not, however, until the end of the eighth century that 
the Germanic style was finally submerged in the 
Carolingian Renaissance, when the revival of learn- 

8 


GALLO-ROMAN AND GERMANIC ANTIQUITIES 


ing at the court of Charlemagne and the imperial 
patronage of the art of Byzantium gave a new direc- 
tion to Frankish art. 

The Franks were only one branch of the Teutonic 
peoples who wandered 
restlessly over Europe 
in the period of the bar- 
barian invasions.» The 
objects found in the 
cemeteries of the vari- 
ous tribes reveal a 
native Germanic art, 
common, at least in its FIG. 4. SCYTHIAN GOLD BUCKLE 
general characteristics, Saag ale ON as eae 
forall) [fis essentially 
an art of ornament, akin to the Oriental in its love of 
geometric patterns in flat design and its negation of 
the realistic, plastic qualities conspicuous in Greek 
and Romanart. Although fantastic bird and animal 
forms were popular'’— 
due in part, perhaps, to 
the influence of classical 
art—they are always 
conventionally render- 
ed, another point of re- 
semblance with the art 
of the Orient, whence the barbarians undoubtedly 








FIG. §. BRONZE FIBULA 


*At its narrowest limits, the period extends from about 376 (when the 
Visigoths, settled in southern Russia, were driven by the Huns to cross 
_ the Danube and invade the Empire) to the time of Charlemagne. But 
long before the fourth century the Germanic tribes were moving down 
from the north to the south and to the east and west; and the Viking 
period of the Teutonic migrations carries us from the time of Charle- 
magne to a date well advanced in the eleventh century. 

® Motives based on the piant (except the vine) and the human form are 

rare. 


Zo 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


borrowed many design motives and the technique 
of colored inlays (garnets and glass pastes). It will be 
recalled that the Goths, a Teutonic people, had settled 
in southern Russia on the shores of the Black Sea in 
the later part of the second century, and had occu- 
pied this border-land territory until late in the fourth 
century when one section of the tribe, the Visigoths, 
was forced across the frontiers of the Roman Empire 
by the Huns sweeping down from central Asia, while 
the other, the Ostrogoths, was driven into the interior 
and conquered by the Mongolians; thus the Goths, 
for a considerable period of time, were in an advan- 
tageous position to receive and transmit influences 
coming from the East. 

Although Oriental influence appears to have played 
the most important part in the formation of the 
Germanic style of the migration period, it must not 
be forgotten that in the first two or three centuries 
of our era there was a considerable interpenetration 
of Romans and Germans, which naturally had cul- 
tural results. 

The exhibits in Gallery F 1 comprise a variety of 
objects, such as brooches, buckles, chatelaine plaques, 
bag-tops, bracelets, torques (neckpieces in the form of 
an open ring), shears, tweezers, knives, spoons, rings, 
hair-pins, keys, combs, beads, and glass drinking- 
vessels. The weapons have been transferred to the 
galleries of the Department of Arms and Armor, 
except for a small group of typical examples. 

The brooches, or fibulae, constitute a numerous 
group. The simplest type (rare on the whole) is the 
ring brooch, a closed or partly open metal ring with 
a hinged prong greater in length than the diameter 
of the ring; the buckle presumably originated from 

10 


GALLO—ROMAN AND GERMANIC ANTIQUITIES 


fibulae of this type. In the plate type, the prong is 
hinged beneath a plate of circular, polygonal, or 
fantastic shape, and adjusted to a catch. A third 
type in its simplest form resembles our familiar 
safety-pin (fig. 5); but as the type developed, the 
bow was covered by an ornamental plate, and, with 
the substitution of the hinge for the spiral, the type 
merges with the plate fibulae. The collection includes 
a few early Celtic and north Italian fibulae of the 
safety-pin type, but most of 
the fibulae here are Mero- 
vingian. Of these, several 
types are represented; among 
the most interesting are cir- 
cular or polygonal brooches 
of gold (fig. 6) richly orna- 
mented with filigree of wire 
and clustered gold globules, 
and with inlays of garnets  Fic.6. CIRCULAR FIBULA 
and glass paste. Another ey aot CAR 
< 2 WITH GOLD 

class of objects, admirably 

represented in the collection, consists of buckles in 
various shapes and sizes. Characteristically Ger- 
manic are the large belt buckles (fig. 1) with accom- 
panying plaques of iron or bronze decorated with 
silver in elaborate linear designs. Plating 1s the us- 
ual process: the design is worked out by roughening 
the iron or bronze; a thin metal foil of some color 
different from the ground is then applied and beaten 
until it adheres to the roughened parts. Silver and 
tin were much used in plating. Sometimes repoussé 
work occurs on the foil. The Germans were also 
expert in inlaying metals, but this technique 1s less 
common than plating. Sword blades show that the 

ii 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


metal-workers were skilled in damascening—the 
welding together of different colored metals. 

The drinking-cups (fig. 7) and other vessels in the 
wall cases are examples of the glass industry which 
flourished in Gaul, especially in the region of the 
Rhine. The shape of the “tumbler drinking-glass,” 
rounded on the bottom so that it could not be set 
down until empty, and the applied decoration are 
characteristic. The iridescence 
which adds so much to the 
beauty of ancient glass is due to 
chemical decomposition through 
burial in the earth. The beads 
of variegated glass, which were a 
favorite ornament of the Ger- 
manic women, are probably not 
of local manufacture but impor- 
tations from Palestine or Syria, 
or from Alexandria in Egypt. 

The collections just noted will 
give the visitor some idea of the 

Leben nte : native artistic attainments of the 

ea ert barbarian population of western 
Europe in the period preceding 
Charlemagne. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Empire, 
with Constantinople as its capital, a new style of 
art had developed from the fusion of Hellenistic 
and Oriental traditions. The characteristics of this 
Byzantine art, the influence it exerted on the art 
of western Europe in the time of Charlemagne, and 
the emergence of the Romanesque style we shall con- 
siderin Partebl: 3 





FIG 74 - CLASssCuD 


I2 


levis Seti 91 


EARLY CHRISTIAN 
BYZANTINE 


CAROLINGIAN 
AND 








Crea baWend Bl EAA 
INTRODUCTION 


In Gallery F 2, the first on the left as the visitor 
enters the Morgan Wing, are exhibited ivories, enam- 
els, metalwork, and other works of art dating from 
the first through the twelfth century. These exhib- 
its, which comprise some of the greatest treasures 
in the Morgan Collection, will be discussed in the 
following chapter; in this, a brief outline is attempted 
of the development of Christian art during the first 
twelve centuries of our era. 

The Early Christian period, although of somewhat 
indefinite chronological limits, may be said to extend 
from the later part of the first century, when Chris- 
tian art makes its first appearance, to about the sixth 
century, when Constantinople under the Emperor 
Justinian flourished as a center of Christian art, and 
the Byzantine style, long in preparation, took defi- 
nite form. By the second century, Christianity had 
spread to most parts of the Empire, and persecution 
served only to gain new adherents to the faith. In 
313 Christianity became nominally the state religion 
through the famous edict of Constantine, the first 
Christian emperor. With the triumph of the Church, 
Christian art entered upon a period of great develop- 
ment in marked contrast with the humble position 


1§ 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


it had occupied during the first three centuries, when 
it had been little more than a funerary art, existing 
obscurely in the catacombs, its iconography limited 
to a few symbols! and biblical episodes” with mystic 
meaning, through which the faithful expressed their 
belief in the life to come and implored the protection 
of the Savior. 

The earliest Christian art is not distinguished from 
contemporaneous pagan art by any peculiarity of 
style. The Christians merely borrowed the existing 
forms of classical art and adapted them to their needs. 
The style which then prevailed throughout the Ro- 
man Empire was the Hellenistic, a hybrid form of 
late Greek art, degenerate but still reminiscent of the 
nobility of earlier days. It was not a uniform style, 
dominated by Rome; on the contrary, it was only 
during the short period of the Empire’s greatest 
centralization and political unity that the particular 
form of Hellenism which flourished at the capital 
enjoyed even a limited vogue outside of Italy. Cer- 
tainly, after the third century Rome could make no 
claim to leadership in matters of art. It is not Rome, 
but the art and culture—suffused with orientalism— 
of the great Hellenistic cities of Antioch, Ephesus, 
and Alexandria which contributed most to the de- 
velopment of Early Christian art. 

The triumph of the Church, which followed Con- 
stantine’s edict of 313, profoundly affected both the 
character of Christian art and the conditions under 


‘The fish, for example, was a symbol of Christ, since the Greek word 
for fish IXOY2 is an anagram for "I (noobs) X(prards) O(e00) T(ids) Z(wrnp) 
(Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior). 

*Mainly illustrating the funeral liturgy. The prayers for the dead 
related instances of divine protection and supplicated the same protec- 
tion for the soul of the deceased. 


16 


EARLY CHRISTIAN-—ROMANESQUE ART 


which it was produced. The restricted, symbolic 
art of the catacombs now entered upon an extraor- 
dinary period of expansion. Splendid churches of 
the basilican type*® were erected throughout the land. 
These were plain on the exterior, but within were 
richly adorned with mosaics‘ or wall paintings, at 
first purely decorative, then pictorial and didactic 
in character. In the latter form, the mural decora- 
tions of the nave, of the triumphal arch separating 
the nave from the apse, and of the apse itself served 
the double purpose of instructing the unlettered in 
sacred history and dogma, and of manifesting the 
joy and the gratitude of the faithful in the victory of 
the Church. 

Christian sculpture, which in the period of the cata- 
combs was practically non-existent, now enjoyed a 
moderate degree of popularity, but its development 
was checked, among other causes, by the hostility 
with which the early Christians regarded anything 
in the nature of an idol. This objection did not ap- 
ply so much to sculpture in relief, which seems to 
have been regarded as a form of embossed paint- 
ing, as to sculpture in the round. Sarcophagi, with 
sculptured figure subjects based on pagan models but 
expressing Christian ideals and aspirations, were 
made in considerable number, and comprise the most 
important class of Early Christian sculpture. Chris- 


3A type of church probably adopted and developed from the pagan 
building of the same name. Characteristic of the basilican plan is the 
broad nave with transepts and single or double side-aisles, covered with 
wooden ceilings and roof. At one end of the nave is the choir with its 
ambones, and the apse with altar and seats for the clergy. On the front 
of the church is a portico, or narthex, preceded by an atrium surrounded 
by a covered arcade. 


4Small cubes of colored or gilded glass set in cement. 


i 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


tian themes also appear in wood- and ivory-carvings, 
miniature painting, metalwork, and other minor arts. 

During the fourth and fifth centuries there was a 
great development of Christian dogma. The heresies 
which aroused such passionate feeling were but ad- 
ditional proof of the vitality of religious life in this 
period, further characterized by the growth of mo- 
nasticism, the appearance of an extensive body of 
Christian literature, the rapid development of the 
cult of saints and martyrs, and the popularity of 
pilgrimages to famous shrines. 

These new interests are reflected in the art of 
the triumphant period. From a limited number of 
themes concerned principally with the promise of a 
future life, the subject matter of Christian art was 
now enlarged to include a complete system of the- 
ology, and church walls were decorated with great 
cycles of scenes drawn from the New and Old Testa- 
ments. Some of the ancient symbols lost favor; 
others, such as the sacred monogram and the cross, 
became popular. The central figure in the new icono- 
graphical program is Christ, who is represented not 
only in scriptural episodes, but also as enthroned 
in majesty. In the earliest representations of the 
Savior, He has the appearance of a beardless youth; 
this is the Hellenistic type, reflecting Greek idealism. 
But in the fourth century a new type, the mature 
bearded figure with which we are familiar, makes its 
appearance; this is the Oriental, historical type which 
became generally accepted in the fifth century, al- 
though it did not entirely supplant the Hellenistic 
type until long after. 

Byzantine art is a general term for the art of the 
Eastern Empire, which, after a period of incubation, 

18 


EARLY CHRISTIAN——-ROMANESQUE ART 


was perfected at Constantinople (Byzantium) in the 
reign of Justinian (527-565), and thereafter, during 
nine centuries, experienced the varying fortunes of 
stagnation, revival, and eclipse. When Constantine 
in 330 transferred the seat of empire from Rome to 
Byzantium (renamed Constantinople), he assured 





FIG. 8. CONSULAR DIPTYCH 
TVORY 21 SAC SD. 


to this city the eventual dominance of the Graeco- 
Oriental world. In 395 the Roman Empire was defi- 
nitely divided into east and west. The Eastern 
Empire escaped the disasters of the fifth century 
which overwhelmed the west and reduced Rome 
to the rank of a provincial city governed by the 
popes. By the time of Justinian, the eastern prov- 
inces had been welded into a powerful state with 
Constantinople not only the political capital but also 
one of the principal centers of its intellectual and 
artistic life. 


19 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The period of prosperity under Justinian was 
followed by one of decline in the seventh century, 
during which most of the provinces were lost to the 
Mohammedans; the conflict between cross and cres- 
cent continued until the very end of the Empire. 
From 726 to 842 the Empire was convulsed by the 
iconoclastic controversy. ‘This originated in a re- 
form movement, political as well as religious in char- 
acter, opposing the superstitious, popular rever- 
ence for images. The triumph of the iconoclastic 
party temporarily directed art into secular channels, 
and caused the destruction on a vast scale of exist- 
ing works of religious art. But the latter had taken 
too firm a grip upon the people to be thus uprooted, 
and the controversy ended with the revival of the 
cult of images. 

With the accession of Basil I in 867 began a period 
of power and prosperity, which continued under the 
Macedonian and Comnenian dynasties until 1202 
when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Cru- 
saders and for over half a century was under Latin 
rule. A restoration was accomplished by the Palae- 
ologi; but, impoverished and assailed on all sides, 
the Empire hastened to its decline, which was com- 
pleted by the capture of Constantinople by the Turks 
In 1453. 

Before the sixth century, Constantinople as an art 
center did not equal in importance such other great 
cities of the Empire as Alexandria, Ephesus, and 
Antioch; but the supremacy of the capital was defi- 
nitely assured in the seventh century when the Arab 
conquests brought final disaster to the rivals of the 
imperial city. 

In the development of Byzantine art two schools 

20 


EARLY CHRISTIAN——-ROMANESQUE ART 


of widely different tendencies are conspicuous. The 
more prominent was the aristocratic, theological 
school, which flourished under imperial and ecclesi- 
astical patronage, and impressed its style upon the 
luxurious forms of art. Based largely upon Hellen- 
istic tradition, the art of this official school is ideal- 
istic) “abstract, stately. The other school, which 
developed contemporaneously but occupied a more 
obscure position until the late days of the Empire, 
had its origin in Syria and Egypt. It was a school 
of popular, monastic art characterized by a tendency 
to dramatize and make picturesque the incidents of 
sacred history; it was more spontaneous, less intel- 
lectual than the aristocratic school. 

In Byzantine art, Hellenistic and Oriental elements 
mingle to produce a new style. From the classical 
inheritance came the traditions of a representative 
art, of the unity secured by the subordination of de- 
tail to ensemble, and of monumental dignity. The 
East contributed, in addition to new ornamental mo- 
tives and new technical methods, its love of color 
and of flat pattern; its indifference to realistic ex- 
pression and, of great importance in the history of 
architecture, the domical system of vaulting and the 
central plan, which became typical of Byzantine 
church architecture. 

The first period of Byzantine art, which ends with 
the beginning of the iconoclastic controversy early 
in the eighth century, may be called the Golden Age 
of Justinian. This was a flourishing period for all the 
arts, which still retained Hellenistic reminiscences of 
plasticity, grace, and dignity. Magnificent, dome- 
covered churches, of which the most notable is Santa 
Sophia at Constantinople, testify to the skill of the 


aa | 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Byzantine architect. Sculpture in the round was 
rarely practised—still less, after the first pertod— 
but relief sculpture was lavishly employed in archi- 
tectural ornament. Wooden doors, ivory boxes and 
tablets, and various objects in metal afforded fur- 
ther opportunities for sculptural decoration. In the 
carving of ivory (fig. 8) an extraordinary excellence 
was attained. The mosaics and paintings of the first 
period, less stereotyped than in the later periods, 
show Byzantine art at its height. 

Although art production was limited in the icono- 
clastic or second period, the reaction was not inimical 
to all forms of art. Religious subjects were replaced 
by secular themes, especially mythological subjects 
derived from classical art; and ornament attained an 
increased importance (fig. 23). 

The third period of Byzantine art, commencing 
about the middle of the ninth century with the set- 
tlement of the iconoclastic controversy and the 
accession of Basil, is marked by renewed artistic 
activity, and the tenth and eleventh centuries con- 
stitute the second Golden Age of Byzantine art (figs. 
g, 26). The proportions of the figure became more 
graceful; the ornament, more delicate and pure; the 
rendering, sure and facile. Although art was not 
exclusively religious, it was chiefly occupied in the 
service of the Church, and under the influence of 
ecclesiastical conservatism iconography hardened into 
a rigid system. Lack of initiative and a mannered 
style characterize the art of the twelfth century, 
with which the third period comes to an end. 

After the restoration of the Palaeologi in the thir- 
teenth century, there was an artistic revival animated 
by a new spirit, akin to that which was then trans- 


D2 


EARLY CHRISTIAN——-ROMANESQUE ART 


forming the art of France and Italy. In this revival, 
which constitutes the fourth period, the popular 
monastic school played the principal part. Theologi- 
cal abstractions gave way to dramatic representations 
of the actualities of sacred story, designed not so 
much to teach dogma as to stir the emotions and 
prepare the way for its acceptance. What would 
have been the outcome of 
this art of mystic realism 
had it continued to de- 
velop, it is impossible to 
say, for the Byzantine 
Renaissance collapsed 
with the Turkish con- 
quest of 1453. Ai lifeless 
art of immutable _for- 
mulae was practised in the 
few monasteries which 
survived the conquest; 
but it was only in Russia FIG. 9. DORMITION OF 
tages byzantine art: te- lie AO men 

. supe LVORY. exes SOREN DLURY 
mained a living style, as- 
similating new elements, but still faithful to the an- 
cient tradition. 

Throughout its course, Byzantine art exerted a 
profound influence upon Italy. Of this, ample proof 
is afforded by the splendid churches erected during 
the fifth and sixth centuries at Rome and Ravenna, 
despite the disorders of the time. In the period of 
exhaustion which ensued, it was Byzantine craftsmen 
who did the finest work at Rome, where papal 
patronage gave encouragement to the arts; and it 
was their example which served as guide and inspira- 
tion to the local artificers. The art of the Eastern 


23 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Empire dominated southern Italy until the thir- 
teenth century; and, in the north, Venice was a 
thoroughly Byzantine city. Under the assimilative 
Longobards, who invaded Italy in 570 and estab- 
lished there a kingdom which lasted until 771, the 
Byzantine style spread through northern Italy, and 
contributed to the revival of art in Lombardy during 
the Carolingian and Romanesque periods. 

The state of the arts in western Europe north of 
the Alps in the time of the barbarian kingdoms has 
already been briefly touched upon in the preceding 
chapter. In consolidating the territories held by the 
Franks into a vast, if loosely united, empire, Charle- 
magne strove to revive not only the form but also the 
culture of the ancient Roman Empire. The new 
Emperor of the Romans did his best to make his court 
at Aix-la-Chapelle a cultural center which should 
rival the imperial Rome of former days. Men of 
learning, such as Alcuin of England, found welcome 
at court; skilled craftsmen were brought from Byzan- 
tium to embellish the capital; and works of art im- 
ported from the Eastern Empire served as models 
for the western artificers. Deprived of its patron- 
age, the Germanic art of the Merovingian kings was 
submerged in the tide of Byzantine influence; and a 
new style arose, characterized by an imperfect as- 
similation of various elements derived from Byzan- 
tium and Rome, from the Orient and the British 
Isles. The ninth and tenth centuries, during which 
this style prevailed, constitute the Carolingian period. 

After the death of Charlemagne, the struggles be- 
tween the rival claimants for the disrupted Empire 
and the invasions of the Normans, Hungarians, and 
Slavs resulted in political and social anarchy. Under 


24 


EARLY CHRISTIAN——-ROMANESQUE ART 


these conditions, when the universal need for pro- 
tection gave rise to the feudal system, art took refuge 
in the monasteries. Here, in the peace and discipline 
of the cloister—for example, in such great monas- 
teries as those of St. Gall and of St. Martin of Tours— 
were produced the illuminated manuscripts, the 
carved ivories (fig. 10), and the metalwork which 
constitute the principal 
monuments of the Carolin- 
gian period. This monastic 
art is largely one of imita- 
tion and adaptation, so that 
it is often very difficult to 
distinguish local styles, even 
nationalities. Ivory-carvers 
drew their inspiration not 
only from Byzantine mod- 
els, but also, and to an 
even larger extent, from 
manuscript illuminations. 
The painters of the illumi- FIG. 10. THE VIRGIN 
nated Bibles, evangeliaries, ee ee 

. CAROLINGIAN IVORY 
and psalters produced in Vayane 
the Carolingian monaster- 
ies were also influenced by Byzantium, but especially 
by the Anglo-Saxon and Irish art of the British Isles; 
these various elements were fused into an unmistak- 
able style, extremely decorative, animated and vigor- 
ous. From the metalworkers came jeweled book- 
covers, reliquaries, altar-frontals, and even occasional 
images in the round such as the celebrated Saint 
Faith at Conques. Apart from ivory-carving, how- 
ever, sculpture was little practised in the Carolingian 
period. Its highest development was reached in Ger- 


25 








THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


many under the beneficent rule of the Othos in the 
tenth century, when Saxony, Franconia, and the 
Rhineland were great centers of artistic activity. 
Whether or not this was due to the hypothetical 
Greek craftsmen who are said to have accompanied 
the Byzantine princess, Theophano, upon her mar- 
riage to Otho II, German art attained a high level in 
both the Carolingian and the succeeding Romanesque 
period, distinguished by a crude, forceful realism and 
by a technical ability above the average. 

Meanwhile, in the Iberian peninsula, there had 
been developing a brilliant Moslem civilization which 
immensely outshone the flickering light of the Caro- 
lingian Renaissance. What city in northern Europe 
at this time could compare with tenth-century Cor- 
dova, famous for its university, its magnificent pal- 
aces, its three thousand mosques, and its three 
hundred public baths? Especially the baths! 

In 710, fresh from their conquests in the Near 
East and northern Africa, the Arabs had invaded 
Spain, defeated the Visigoths, and speedily made 
themselves masters of the greater part of the penin- 
sula, thus adding to the Mohammedan world its 
principal domain in the West. The Arab art of 
Spain, although distinctive in style, derives directly 
or indirectly from two principal sources, Byzantium 
and Persia. The most conspicuous clement espe- 
cially in architecture and sculpture, are ibe of 
Iranian origin; they include the familiar horseshoe- 
arch; the domical system of vaulting, which gave to 
the Mohammedan mosque its characteristic cupola; 
and the “‘coloristic”’ technique of decorative carving 
in which the ornament is kept in one plane contrast- 
ing sharply with a deeply shadowed background. 

26 


EARLY CHRISTIAN——-ROMANESQUE ART 


In the eleventh century, the small Christian king- 
doms in the north of Spain became sufficiently power- 
ful to encroach gradually on their Mohammedan 
neighbors, until, in the thirteenth century, the Moors 
had been driven into the mountainous kingdom of 
Granada in southern Spain, where for two centuries 
more their civilization continued to flourish. 

The Christian art of western Europe in the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries is commonly known as Roman- 
esque.’ In this period changing political and social 
conditions gave a new impetus to art. The decen- 
tralizing tendency of feudalism was now opposed by 
the growing power of the monarchy; and 1n France, a3 
in England after the Norman conquest of 1066, the 
evolution toward national unity proceeded apace. 
Both France and England were destined to become 
strong, single kingdoms; but another fate was in store 
for Germany, since the struggle between pope and 
emperor, the rivalry and rebellions of the German 
vassals, the difficulty of holding Italian territory 
could have but one result—the eventual collapse of 
the Holy Roman Empire® and the dissolution of Ger- 
many into a confused confederation of small powers 
with no strong central government. In the conflict 
between imperial and papal ambitions, Italy had no 
chance of attaining unity; but these conditions fa- 
vored the rise of the city states, which were to con- 
tribute so much in the period of the Renaissance to 
the development of art. 

The new importance of the communes, not only in 


®>When this term came into use early in the nineteenth century, it was 
thought that the art of this period showed a greater dependence on 
Roman forms than is now generally admitted. 


6 After the death of Frederick II in 1250. 


27 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Italy but elsewhere, reflects the increased industrial 
and commercial activities of the period. Commerce 
between the East and West was fostered by the Cru- 
sades (from the end of the eleventh to the end of the 
thirteenth century), and the contact with Oriental 
civilization developed new ideals of luxury. In the 
brilliant Provencal school of southern France, litera- 
ture once again began to flourish. Universities were 
founded and multiplied; and learning—of a sort—be- 
came more general. 

Although the day was drawing near when com- 
munal art should produce the great Gothic cathedrals 
of the thirteenth century, the patronage of art in the 
Romanesque period was still preponderantly mo- 
nastic. The reformed Benedictine order of Cluny, 
established in Burgundy in g10, was an active agent 
in the development and spread of Romanesque art. 
The eleventh century saw the rise of two other great 
reform orders, the Carthusian and the Cistercian, 
the latter particularly influential in architecture, 
although it austerely neglected sculpture. The im- 
portance of religion in the Romanesque period is 
clearly seen in the wealth and power of the monastic 
houses; 1n the magnificent churches built to enshrine 
famous relics; in the pilgrimages, which contributed 
a great deal, incidentally, to the dissemination of new 
styles of architecture and sculpture; and finally, in 
the numerous Crusades undertaken to free the Holy 
Land from the infidel. 

After the dreaded year 1000 had been safely passed, 
many of the older shrines were rebuilt and new 
churches were constructed in vast numbers. It is in 
church architecture that Romanesque art attained its 
most original form. Several regional styles developed 

28 


EARLY CHRISTIAN—-ROMANESQUE ART 


in France; Lombardy contributed notable advances 
to the creation of the new style, and there were im- 
portant developments in England (the Norman style), 
in Germany, and in northern Spain. But it must 
suffice to describe briefly the typical Romanesque 
church. The general basilican plan was still retained 
with the transepts more developed; but the great in- 
novation was the substitution of stone vaulting for 
the timber roof and flat wooden ceilings of the earlier 
churches. The great advantage of this vaulting was 
that it lessened the danger of fire. Through this 
change the appearance of the church was radically 
altered. Whatever the system of vaulting—domical, 
barrel, groined, or ribbed—the weight of the stone 
vault necessitated a narrow nave, sturdy pillars, and 
thick, low walls, massive enough to resist the thrust 
of the vault. Light was admitted through round- 
headed windows, small in scale so as not to weaken 
the walls. These small windows did well enough in 
the south, where dim interiors were a welcome relief 
from the blaze of sunlight; but in the north, larger 
windows which would admit more light were desira- 
ble. Accordingly, the earlier system of timber roof- 
ing was often retained, as the walls, when pierced with 
large window openings, were not strong enough to 
support the weight of the heavy Romanesque stone 
vaulting. The solution of the problem was shortly 
to be found in the development of the Gothic con- 
structional system. 

The sobriety of form which characterizes the Ro- 
manesque church was relieved by carvings on capi- 
tals, portals, and other parts of the edifice; by the 
stained glass which filled the deep-set windows; and 
by the frescoes which adorned the interior. Monu- 


29 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


mental sculpture, which for centuries had been practi- 
cally extinct in western Europe, now revived as an 
adjunct toarchitecture. Our space is too limited for 
any discussion of the many local schools of sculpture 
which developed in France, or of the various schools 
which flourished in Italy, Germany, Spain, and else- 
where in this period. Attention may be called to 
a few characteristics of Romanesque sculpture in 
general (figs. I1, 31). 

The material for monumental sculpture was gener- 
ally stone, although wood and marble were also used. 
The ancient custom of painting and gilding sculpture 
continued, but this polychromy was limited to a few 
colors which were applied without any great effort at 
realistic imitation. It is difficult to realize what 
must have been the original appearance of Roman- 
esque sculpture, as in most cases little or nothing 
remains today of the painting and gilding which com- 
pleted the carver’s work. Technically, Romanesque 
sculpture rarely rises to any very high level. The 
craftsmen who were charged with the sculptural dec- 
oration of the great churches and monasteries of this 
period had to relearn the most elementary principles 
of their art. Preoccupied with technical difficulties, 
the Romanesque sculptor did not bother himself 
much with studying directly from nature, although 
he had a keen sense of the dramatic which shows 
powers of observation. To illustrate the didactic 
program devised for the sculptor by his ecclesiastical 
clients no great ability in the imitation of nature was 
essential; for purposes of instruction, conventional 
forms sufficed if only sufficiently realistic to be rec- 
ognizable. It is not surprising, therefore, that the 
Romanesque sculptor should have turned, in the 


30 





HG Ul tHE. VIRGIN 
AND CHILD 
PAINTED WOOD 
FRENCH, XII CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


main, to other models than nature, and have copied 
or adapted to his needs chance remains of classical 
art (which had a distinct influence upon the devel- 
opment of sculpture as well as of architecture in 
southern France), the patterns of Oriental textiles, 
Christian ivories, and especially the manuscript 
illuminations produced at 
Byzantium or in his own 
monastic schools. 
Ivory-carving (fig. 13) ex- 
hibits the same general de- 
velopment as sculpture in 
stone. Metalworkers ap- 
plied their skill to the elabo- 
rate ornamentations of re- 
liquaries, shrines, and other 
FIG. 12. SAINT JOHN articles of church usage. 
aad metas Oy Antique vases were set in 
RHENISH, ABOUT 1180 mountings of silver-gilt; 
book-covers (fig. 37) and 
shrines were studded with precious stones, cameos, 
and engraved gems. Bronze casting was carried to 
perfection. Early in the twelfth century, enamel 
(figs. 12, 30, 32-34, 52) became the most popular 
means of ornamenting metal, and the champlevé proc- 
ess, more suitable for work on a large scale than the 
intricate and costly cloisonné method of Byzantine 
art, came into favor. The Rhineland, the valley of 
the Meuse, and Limoges, in central France, were the 
principal centers of enameling in the Romanesque 
period. More will be said of these minor arts when 
we come to the discussion of the objects exhibited in 


Gallery F 2: 


Except in the form of manuscript illuminations 
32 





EARLY CHRISTIAN——ROMANESQUE ART 


little has survived of Romanesque paintings. The 
colors are few and crude, applied in flat washes, 
strongly outlined and summarily modeled with 
cross-hatchings and coarse touches of light and dark. 
The drawing is schematic; the attitudes are often 
violent to the point of ex- 
travagance; but there is usu- 
ally a decorative quality which 
redeems many faults. 

As the period advanced, 
stained glass for windows came 
into vogue. This Roman- 
esque glass, characterized by 
severe, monumental design 
and deep, rich color, is of the 
“mosaic”’ type, 1. e., composed 
of small pieces of pot-metal 
glass held together by strips 
of lead which follow the main 


i 





outlines of the pattern. In |{Meeeete : 
this early leaded glass, paint- FIG. 13. LEAF OF IVORY 
ing holds an entirely subser- DIPTYCH 


. os SPANISH, XII CENTURY 
vient position. : 


The iconography which developed in western Eu- 
rope during the Romanesque period differs in several 
respects from that which prevailed contemporane- 
ously in the official school of Byzantine art. It 1s less 
sacramental, more universal in character. It too is 
concerned with religious instruction, but it supple- 
ments the traditional themes of scriptural episodes 
and representations of sacred personages with sub- 
jects drawn from the entire range of human knowl- 
edge and belief, subjects which are not only in- 
structive in themselves but also susceptible of alle- 


33 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


gorical interpretation as demonstrations of dogma 
and moral precepts. What may seem to us obscure 
was not so to the faithful in this age of scholastic 
subtleties, when sermons made clear to the people 
the meaning of the allegories, types, and symbols 
which met their eyes as they entered the church 
and surrounded them in their devotions. We find, 
then, in Romanesque art not only scriptural sub- 
jects, often with figurative meanings in addition to 
their historical significance, but also scenes from the 
lives of the saints; representations of the seven liberal 
arts; of the vices and virtues; of the mechanical and 
manual arts; of the seasons and their occupations; 
and, for good measure, an extraordinary fauna of 
fantastic beings and of half-real, half-imaginary 
animals derived from the bestiaries and travelers’ 
tales of distant lands. Even profane subjects make 
their appearance, and genre creeps in, more or less 
sanctimoniously disguised. Romanesque art, one 
might say, was a handbook in which was written for 
all to read what the world then knew and what it 
believed. This vast encyclopedic program is only 
roughly suggested in the Romanesque period; it was 
to be perfected in the succeeding age of Gothic art. 

In the second half of the twelfth century, when 
Romanesque art was at its height, there was de- 
veloped in the Ile-de-France and in Normandy a new 
principle of construction which speedily transformed 
the art of building and made possible the soaring 
beauty of the Gothic cathedrals. But the discussion 
of Gothic art must be reserved for another chapter; 
it is time now to pass in review the objects of earlier 
art which await our inspection in Gallery F 2. 


34 


CHAPTER II 
GALLERY F 2 


In the first case (A) on the left, as one enters Gallery 
F2, 1s exhibited the Albanian treasure, a group of ob- 
jects in gold and silver found in the vicinity of Vrap 
Meateurazzo in Albania. 
With the exception of one 
cup in the Constantinople 
Museum and of one drinking- 
bowl in the Economos Collec- 
tion, Paris, the entire lot of 
forty-one pieces comprising — 
Petes tee wasacduired by sr 14. coup BUCKLE 
Mr. Morgan between 1gO2 THE ALBANIAN 
and 1907. The objects may Be PASE RE 
be divided into two groups: one, gold and silver 
vessels, and the other, gold ornaments for per- 
sonal adornment. Stylistically, all the vessels in 
the first group are Byzantine in character with the 
exception of the pair of undecorated gold drinking- 
bowls, which are Oriental in style, and of the silver 
bucket (fig. 15), which combines both Byzantine and 
Oriental elements. The gold ornaments, consisting 
of buckles (fig. 14), strap-ends, and various mount- 
ings, are closely related to similar objects in bronze 
which have been found in barbarian graves in Hun- 


35 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


gary. IThe,principal design’ motives#iiesenan 
palmette, the circular lobed leaf, and the vine mean- 





FIG. 15. SILVER 
BUCKET 
THE ALBANIAN 
TREASURE 


der, are unmistakably Orien- 
tal in character. Theventire 
treasure is presumably the 
work of nomad craftsmen in 
the train of barbarian tribes 
migrating through the Balk- 
ans from central Asia. Many 
dificult questions are involved 
in the matter of dating, but 
in a general way the treasure 
may be assigned to a period 
from the sixth to the ninth 
century. One of the most in- 
teresting pieces is a gold cup 


(fig. 16) ornamented in repoussé with four symbolic 
figures with mural crowns representing Constanti- 
nople, Cyprus, Rome, and 


Alexandria; the cup 1s prob- 
ably a copy in gold of an 
earlier Byzantine original in 


silver. 


Pausing for a moment to 
note a French wood-carving 
of the twelfth century rep- 
resenting the seated Virgin 
holding the Christ Child on 
her knees (fig. 11), we pass 
on to the second case (B) 
where is exhibited a group 
of six silver plates of excep- 





FIG. 16." ‘GOLD: cur 
THE ALBANIAN TREASURE 


tional rarity and import- — 
ance. These plates (figs. 17, 18) form part of a 


36 





FIG. 17. DAVID BEFORE SAUL 





FIG. 18. DAVID AND GOLIATH 


TWO SILVER DISHES, SYRIAN 
OV THE Vi CENTURY 
FORMING PART OF THE 
CYPRUS TREASURE 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


treasure which was discovered in 1902 at Karavas 
near Kyrenia on the north coast of the island of 
Cyprus. Altogether, eleven silver dishes and a 
quantity of gold jewelry were found, of which five 
plates and a few pieces of jewelry were retained by the 
government at Cyprus and are now in the museum at 
Nicosia; the remainder of the treasure entered the 
Morgan Collection (six plates in Case B; eight pieces 
of jewelry in Case C). The Morgan plates, which are 
ornamented in low relief with scenes from the story of 
David, are sixth century in date and presumably of 
Syrian (Antioch?) workmanship. Silverware and 
jewelry found near Antioch or in neighboring regions 
indicate flourishing ateliers of metalworkers at this 
period in Syria; Antioch was probably the center of 
production. In the elaborate figure compositions of 
this school, a realistic tendency is conspicuous, espe- 
cially in the rendering of such accessories as furniture 
and costume. Hellenistic tradition is apparent in the 
picturesque character of such pieces as the plate with 
the scene of David strangling the lion. In other 
instances—for example, David before Saul (fig. 17)— 
the symmetrical composition reveals new influences 
at work. In this plate, note as illustrating the 
realistic trend that the figures are clothed in con- 
temporaneous costume. Wearing the chlamys, or 
mantle, ornamented with the tablion (insignia of 
imperial dignity) and fastened on the right shoulder 
with a jeweled brooch, Saul might be taken for a 
Byzantine emperor, giving audience in some hall of 
the Sacred Palace. On the backs of the plates ap- 
pear various stamps composed of the monograms and 
effigies of the name-saints of the control officers. The 
Syrian craftsman often used gold, and occasionally 


38 


GALLERY F 2 


niello, to enhance the effectiveness of his relief work, 
which was further enriched by engraved ornament 
and detail. The general effect is one of splendid 
magnificence, but closer examination reveals the ab- 
sence of those refinements which distinguish the 
metalwork of the classical era. 

Byzantine jewelry 1s open to the same criticism. 
The goldsmith no longer strove for delicate workman- 
ship and exquisite niceties of form. The metal is 
apt to be flimsy; showy combinations of gold and 
colors or bold contrasts of light and dark catch the 
eye but fail to holdit. The ornament, 1f modeled, 1s 
usually embossed in low relief rather than boldly 
modeled. In compensation, there are beauty of pat- 
tern and striking effects of color. Perhaps it is some- 
what unfair to judge Byzantine jewelry by itself 
alone; it should be regarded as an essential part of the 
sumptuous costumes of the time—the glittering ac- 
cent, so to speak, which gave to Byzantine dress 
something of the golden splendor of mosaics. 

The collection of Early Christian and Byzantine 
jewelry shown in Case C 1s one of unusual interest 
owing to the rarity of these examples of the gold- 
smith’s art. On one side of the case are grouped the 
eight pieces of jewelry forming part of the treasure 
found at Karavas, Cyprus, to which we have already 
referred. The jewelry, like the silver plate, is prob- 
ably of Syrian origin, and dates from the fifth or sixth 
century; a girdle is composed of gold coins and medals 
ranging in date from the early fifth to the end of the 
sixth century. The treasure was probably buried 
shortly after this latter date, during the Arab inva- 
“sion of the island. Three necklaces are included 
in the group: one of large cylindrical plasma beads, 


39 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


alternating with pearls; and two in the form of gold 
chains with pendent crosses, small vases, and other 
ornaments (fig. 20). Two gold bracelets (fig. 19) 
with a grape-vine pattern in pierced work are partic- 
ularly attractive in design. 

The provenance of the other necklaces, bracelets, 
and earrings exhibited with the Cyprus jewelry is 
unknown, with the exception of eight pieces of jew- 
elry, dating from the third through the sixth century, 
which were found near Assiut in Upper Egypt. The 





FIG. I9. GOLD BRACELET FOUND AT CYPRUS 
PROBABLY SYRIAN, VI CENTURY 


most striking piece in this Egyptian group—of local 
or possibly of Syrian origin—is a large gold pectoral 
of the sixth century, composed of medals and coins 
of various Byzantine emperors; a pendent medallion, 
originally forming part of the pectoral, is now in the 
Freer Collection in Washington. Barbarically splen- 
did are two gold bracelets, studded with pearls, plas- 
ma, and sapphires, exhibited on either side of the pec- 
toral. 

Before turning to the next case, the visitor should 
note against the window wall a rare example of Early 
Christian sculpture (see page 17) from Tarsus, 
Asia Minor. ‘This is a fragment of a fourth-century 
grave monument, and represents Jonah cast to the 
whale, a scene typifying the Resurrection. Beside 
it, in a small table case (E), 1s shown an important 


40 


GALLERY F 2 


group of fifteen Early Christian gold-glasses of the 
third to the fifth century. These objects are mainly 
the bottoms of drinking-vessels made as wedding, 
birthday, and other anniversary gifts, and decorated 


with Christian, pagan, and domestic subjects. 


spe ie fr tiers ai 1 Sa $3 


rot, 4 
anal 


ty 
Las 
i 
& 





GOLD NECKLACE FOUND 
AT CYPRUS 
PROBABLY SYRIAN, VI CENTURY 


ElGan2O. 


Specimens of this kind have been found, for the 
most part, in the Roman catacombs and in graves 
at Cologne. To facilitate the identification of 
individual graves in the catacombs, it was custom- 
ary to impress objects in the freshly mortared locult, 
or burial niches; and among these were the bottoms 
of gold-glass vessels, accidentally or intentionally 


4l 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


broken off. In the manufacture of these gilded 
glasses, a sheet of gold-leaf was first gummed to the 
glass; the design was then drawn and the superfluous 
pieces of foil removed; the gold decoration was pro- 
tected by fusing a second layer of glass to the first. 

Case D on the opposite wall contains a miscellane- 
ous group of material. We may note two more ex- 
amples of gold-glass,' a glass plate engraved with the 
Raising of Lazarus, a large amulet of hematite with 
intaglio designs worn as a charm against hemorrhage, 
and a ninth- or tenth-century Byzantine seal of rock 
crystal with a scene of the Crucifixion engraved in 
intaglio. Ivory-carvings, however, constitute the 
major part of the exhibits in this case. 

The pre-Gothic ivories in the Morgan Collection— 
if this convenient term may be used to describe not 
only the Christian ivories earlier in date than the 
thirteenth century, but also the ancient Egyptian and 
late classical examples—constitute a collection which 
in quality and representative character is one of 
extraordinary importance. With the exception of 
a reconstructed Roman couch and stool decorated 
with bone carvings, exhibited in the galleries of the 
Classical Department, the pre-Gothic ivories are 
shown in Cases D to I. 

In Case D are shown several Egyptian ivories, 
which include the earliest piece in the collection of 
ivories, a lotus-shaped cup assigned to the eighteenth 
dynasty (1580-1350 B.C.). A recumbent lion, an 
Apis bull, and a kneeling figure of a man (good Saite 
work) may be classed. generally as Late Dynastic, 


1One is a well-known piece, formerly in the Ficaroni, Walpole, and Dilke 
Collections, which is thought to have been made in the eighteenth 
century to deceive the antiquarian Ficaroni. 


42 


GALLERY F 2 


about seventh to fourth century B. C. In the same 
case 1s an archaic Greek ivory-carving representing 
two women, and an interesting group of ivory-carv- 
ings of the Roman Imperial period. Dating about 
the first century A. D. are three parts of the ivory 
decoration of a couch, a ring with Venus and Cupid, 
and a standing cup with Erotes at play. Somewhat 
later, approximately first to third century A. D., are 
seven plaques from caskets and three profile heads. 
To the third century may be assigned a cylindrical 
box with dancing satyrs carved in high relief. 

The East Christian ivories from Syria, Palestine, 
and Egypt (see pages 16, 20) constitute an important 
group. Probably Syrian of the fifth century is a 
ciborium (receptacle for consecrated mass wafers) 
Oiethe type called“ turris’ (fig. 21). This “ivory 
tower”’ (Case G) is decorated with figures of the 
twelve Apostles; the architectural form may be in- 
tended to recall the rotunda erected by Constantine 
over the Holy Sepulchre. To the sixth century, and 
probably to Syria, may be assigned a cylindrical box, 
presumably made for a jewel case, but possibly used 
later for a reliquary (Case G); the carving represents 
Bacchus punishing Damascus, King of Syria (or 
possibly Myrrhanus, Orontes, and other kings of 
India with their people), for opposing the introduction 
of the vine. Syrian in the character of its decora- 
tion, and presumably in execution, is a cylindrical 
box (Case I) which originally had a cover fastened by 
cords passed through two projecting “ears’’ on the 
sides; this unusual piece dates from the fifth or sixth 
century. Two ivory fragments in Case D, represent- 
ing the Ascension, were probably carved in Palestine 
by Coptic craftsmen in the late sixth or early seventh 


43 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


century. The iconographic type is Palestinian; the 
execution, presumably Coptic. Such ivories, like 
the Monza ampullae, may have been made as sou- 
venirs for pilgrims to the Holy Land. 

Either Egyptian or Syrian, with the probabilities 
in favor of Egypt, are two pyxes, or boxes for mass 
wafers, of the sixth century, in Case G. On one the 
carving represents the Miracle of the Loaves (fig. 22); 
on the other, the Three Marys and the Visit to the 
Sepulchre. An unusual diptych (Case F), with 
carvings in low relief representing Saint Peter and 
Saint Paul, is presumably an East Christian work, 
probably from the ateliers of Egypt; it may be 
assigned to the seventh or possibly to the end of the 
sixth century. It is an example of the extremely 
rare ecclesiastical diptychs which were used in the 
church service for the recording of names of martyrs 
and benefactors and for other commemorative pur- 
poses. It has been suggested? that these panels may 
not have been made originally as a diptych but have 
formed part of the decoration of an elaborately or- 
namented throne, similar to the celebrated chair of 
Saint Maximianus at Ravenna. 

The earliest piece (fig. 8) in the remarkable group 
of Byzantine ivories is a finely decorated consular 
diptych (Case F), of the early sixth century, bearing 
the name of the Consul, Flavius Petrus Sabbatius 
Justinianus (521 A. D.). The chief decoration con- 
sists of medallions with ornamental borders. Ivories 
of this kind were ordered by the consuls on their 
accession to office, and presented as complimen- 
tary gifts to the emperor and other important per- 
sonages. ‘The series of rare examples now existing 

*By A. M. Friend, of Princeton. 


44 





EIG, 205) 1LVORY CIBORIUM 
PROBABLY SYRIAN 
V CENTURY 





BIG 22 LV ORY eP eX 


EGYPTIAN OR SYRIAN 
Vi CENTURY — 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


commences about the middle of the fifth century and 
ends with 541, when the consulate was abolished by 
Justinian. | 

Of the secular ivory caskets of the Veroli type, of 
which some fifty examples are known, we are fortu- 
nate in possessing three complete examples and sev- 
eral panels from similar pieces. The three caskets 
in Case G are ornamented with carvings of warriors, 





FIG. 23. IVORY CASKET 
BYZANTINE, [X-X CENTURY 


hunters, dancers, and animals; and date from the 
second half of the ninth or from the tenth century. 
During the iconoclastic controversy (page 20), relig- 
ious subjects came under the ban. This fostered the 
development of secular themes which continued 
in favor after the controversy ended in 842 with the 
victory of the cult of images. Presumably somewhat 
later in date than the caskets with pagan subjects are 
those with biblical themes. To the tenth or eleventh 
century may be assigned three sides of a casket with 
carvings illustrating scenes from the story of Joshua 
(Case F). The ivories are related in style to the 
miniatures of the Joshua rotulus, in the Vatican 


46 


GALLERY F 2 


Library, which is generally held to be a copy of an 
original perhaps as old as the fifth century. Another 
plaque (Case F) illustrating 
an episode in the history of 
Joshua (the execution of the 
King of Hazor) may be as- 
signed to ‘the eleventh or 
twelfth century (fig. 24). Of 
the same date are two plaques 
(Case F) from a casket with 
scenes from the story of 
Adam and Eve; the carvings 
represent Adam and Eve at yg. 24. vory PLAQUE 
the forge and in the fields BYZANTINE 
harvesting grain. In CaseG en ae ee 

is a smaller ivory box with carvings representing 
Christ, the Virgin, Saint John the Baptist, and the 
Apostles. This beautiful ex- 
ample of Byzantine carving 
dates from about the tenth 
century; it once contained a 
reliquary of the True Cross, a 
celebrated example of Byzan- 
tine enameling shown in Case 
J (see page 56). 

Two fine plaques in Case F, 
probably from book-covers, 
exemplify the highly devel- 
oped Byzantine style of the 
tenth and eleventh centuries. 
One is a symbolic Crucifixion 
(fig. 26); the Virgin and Saint John stand on either 
side of the Cross, which is fixed in the bowels of 
Adam; above the reclining figure of Adam 1s repre- 


47 








FIG. 24. IVORY SITULA 
GERMAN, ABOUT I000 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


sented the rending of Christ’s garment. The other 
represents the Dormition of the Virgin (fig. g). In 
the same case may be noted a figure of the Virgin 
and Child (cut from an ivory plaque), a good ex- 
ample of the aristocratic art of Byzantium in the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries; and two Slavonic 
ivories of the fourteenth to the sixteenth century 
which are exhibited with the Byzantine ivories to 
show the continuance of the tradition. 

Of several Carolingian ivory plaques designed for 
book-covers, shown in Case F, the most important 
(fig. 10) is one depicting the Virgin enthroned, 
holding a distaff, a spindle, and a cross. The ivory, 
which dates from the ninth century, is related in style 
to the so-called “Ada Group” of miniatures. Two 
fine plaques, one representing the Virgin and Child 
enthroned, the other Christ between Saint Peter and 
Saint Paul, may be assigned to the middle of the 
ninth century. On the backs of the plaques are Cop- 
tic or Syrian carvings of the sixth or seventh century, 
indicating that the Carolingian artists re-used earlier 
ivories. Other interesting pieces are the holy-water 
bucket (Case G) from Cranenburg near Diisseldorf, a 
lower Rhenish work of about 1000 (fig. 25); and two 
tenth- or eleventh-century book-cover plaques (Case 
F), German, representing Christ enthroned, with 
symbols of the Evangelists. North Italian, or 
possibly German, about 1000, is a fine plaque (Case 
F) representing the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem. 

One of the most remarkable pieces in the collection 
is a portable altar (Case G) decorated with ivory 
plaques which represent (1) the Paschal Lamb be- 
tween two angels; (2) Abel’s sacrifice; (3) the offering 
of Melchizedek, the Priest-King; (4) Christ healing 


48 


GALLERY F 2 


two blind men and Christ healing a demoniac. The 
ivory-carvings, which originally formed part of the 
decoration of another and earlier portable altar, are 
Carolingian work of the ninth century. The two 
long panels are of the same date and origin as the 
others, but imitate ivory-carvings on sixth-century 
East Christian book- 
covers of the composite 
type.® 

Ivory-carving of the 
eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies in western Europe 
is represented by several 
fine examples. The well- 
known pa/iotto, of the late 
eleventh or early twelfth 
century, in the Cathedral 
of Salerno in southern 
Italy, exemplifies the de- 
velopment of ivory-carv- 
ing in Italy under Byzan- 





° . A 68 l FIG. 26. CRUCIFIXION, IVORY 
tine innuence. Origina y BYZANTINE, Xs-Xle CEN TLURY 


forming part of this fa- 

mous altar-frontal is a small plaque (Case F) repre- 
senting the Sixth Day of Creation. In the same case 
are two plaques of the Crucifixion, which may be as- 
signed to the Salerno school and dated in the early 


’The decoration of the altar in its original form presumably followed 
much the same plan as these book-covers. The ivory-carvings were dis- 
posed on the top of the altar around the consecrated slab. On opposite 
sides were the two long panels of the Paschal Lamb and the Miracles of 
Christ. On the other sides were small compositions, probably three to a 
side, representing types of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Only two of these 
have survived: Abel’s offering, and Melchizedek. The two long panels 
were copied from similar carvings on sixth-century book-covers, but the 
Miracles of Christ, represented in the vertical side panels of the book- 
covers, were replaced by subjects more appropriate to an altar, i.e., 


49 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


twelfth century. Possibly produced at Ravenna is 
the fragment of an ivory plaque (Case F) of the late 
twelfth century, representing the lamentation over 
the body of Christ. 

An octagonal box (Case H) with Apostles and sym- 
bols of the Evangelists is probably a German work, 
Rhenish, of the twelfth century. A chessman (bish- 
op) in Case I resembles the chessmen found on the 
island of Lewis (W. Hebrides, Scotland), most of 
which are now in the British Museum, London. 
Although a Scandinavian origin has been claimed, 
they are probably Norman, Scottish, or English; 
the date is mid-twelfth century. Another interesting 
piece for the student of games is a draughtsman or 
tric-trac piece, of ivory stained red, representing 
Samson slaying the Philistines (Case F); the piece 
is French, eleventh century. Also French is the 
ivory head of a crozier, a work of the late twelfth or 
early thirteenth century; and either French or Span- 
ish, a fragment of a crucifix, dating from about the 
end of the eleventhor the early twelfth century, which 
represents on one side Christ Enthroned and on the 
other the Paschal Lamb with the symbols of the 
Evangelists, John and Luke. 

Of unusual interest among the ivories in Case F 
is a plaque from a book-cover (fig. 27) with a Cruci- 
fixion scene surrounded by an elaborate border of 
foliated ornament, interspersed with tiny figures of 
men and animals and with symbols of the Evangel- 


types of sacrifice, for models of which the carver turned to other sources, 
probably to contemporaneous Carolingian manuscript illuminations. 
This explains the discrepan yin tyle (although not in technique) obsery- 
able in the ivory-carvings. Some injury to the original altar may have 
necessitated its reconstruction, at which time it was given the present 
form. 


5O 


GALLERY F 2 


ists. This ivory is from the same hand or atelier as 
the ivory crucifix (now in the Archaeological Mu- 
seum, Madrid), which was given with other precious 
objects in 1063 by Ferdinand the Great and his 
Queen, Dofia Sancha, to the Church of San Isidoro 
at Leon. The fineness of the execution, especially 
in the ornament, and the 
’ coloristic technique—es- 
sentially Oriental—of the 
deep-set background, on 
which the relief appears 
to be applied as cutwork, 
indicate a Moslem crafts- 
man who brought to the 
service of his Christian 
patron the skill of hand 
and the genius for deco- 
ration which are so amaz- 
ingly displayed in the 
ivory caskets carved for 


the Mohammedan rulers 
of Spain. FIG. 27. CRUCIFIXION, IVORY 
SPANISH, XI CENTURY 





Of the rare Spanish 
ivories of the eleventh and twelfth centuries with 
Christian subjects, the Morgan Collection contains 
a remarkable group. An ivory plaque (Case F) 
of the first half of the eleventh century, which 
comes from the same atelier as the famous shrine 
of San Millan, ordered in 1033 and presented by 
Sancho the Great, King of Navarre, to San Mil- 
lan de la Cogolla, represents an incident of the 
finding of the True Cross. A book-cover (Case H) 
of silver-gilt ornamented with filigree, cabochons, 
and ivory figures representing the Crucifixion ap- 


$i 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


pears from the inscription to have been made for 
Queen Felicia, wife of Sancho Ramirez, King of 
Aragon and Navarre. The workmanship is Spanish; 
the date, between 1063 and 1085. Dating from the 
first half of the twelfth century is a fragment (Case I), 
presumably from a book-cover, representing Christ 
enthroned. In the same case are two masterly ex- 
amples of Spanish Romanesque carving in the twelfth © 
century, a figure of Christ from a crucifix, and a leaf 
of a diptych (fig. 13) representing in two compart- 
ments the Journey to Emmaus and the Noli me 
tangere. 

There remain to be mentioned several ivories of 
Oriental character, presumably the work of Moslem 
carvers. A richly carved casket with figures of men 
and animals (Case I) may be described as Egypto- 
Syrian of the eleventh or twelfth century. Of the 
same period and similar in style are an ivory writing- 
case with copper-gilt mounts (Case G) and a frag- 
ment of an oliphant (Case H). A complete horn 
(Case I), with Persian or Mesopotamian silver-gilt 
mounts, is a work of the late twelfth or the first half 
of the thirteenth century. Another oliphant (in the 
same case) with Christian symbols introduced in the 
decoration may be a European imitation of these 
Eastern carvings; the date is approximately twelfth 
century. Interesting to compare with these early 
oliphants is an exquisitely carved horn (Case H) of 
later date, an Indian work of the sixteenth or seven- 
teenth century. Mesopotamian, or possibly Indian, 
of about the eighth to tenth century is a chess-piece 
(Case D), said to have been found near the Euphrates. 
The piece represents an elephant carrying a man; of 
this figure only the lower part now remains. 


52 





CHRIST SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 





THE VIRGIN SAINT GEORGE 


BIG. 26, FOUR MEDALLIONS, CLOISONNE ENAMEL ON GOLD 
BYZANTINE, XI CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Byzantine and early mediaeval enamels, one of the 
most remarkable sections of the Morgan Collection, 
occupy Cases J, K, and L. Although enameling was 
undoubtedly practised in some form several cen- 
turies before the Christian era, Byzantine craftsmen 
appear to have been the first to make any extensive 
use of this method of decorating metal. Unfortu- 
nately, however, surviving examples are very rare; 
many, no doubt, have been destroyed for the sake 
of the gold which was used as a foundation for the 
enamel. The sixty-five pieces of Byzantine enamel 
(including the Russo-Byzantine examples), displayed 
on three sides of Case J, constitute a group of 
extraordinary importance. With a few exceptions, 
these enamels were formerly in the well-known 
Swenigorodskoi Collection. 

Byzantine enamels are practically all of the 
cloisonné variety. Rarely was any other metal than 
gold employed for the metal plaques, rectangular 
or circular in shape, upon which thin strips of metal, 
following the outlines desired, were soldered in the 
sunken field of the design so as to form the cells 
containing the enamel. When the enamel, a vit- 
reous powder colored with metallic oxides and 
usually translucent, had been sufficiently fired, the 
surface was rubbed down until level with the cloisons, 
and highly polished. The delicacy of the technique 
and the costly metal employed restricted the use 
of enamel in this form to jewelry and to small 
plaques designed for the ornamentation of such 
objects as book-covers, icons, crosses, and altar- 
frontals composed of many enameled plaques. The 
majority of Byzantine enamels date from the tenth 
through the twelfth century; Constantinople ap- 


54 


GALLERY. Fk 2 


pears to have been the principal center of the art. 
Byzantine enamels were imitated not only in wes- 
tern Europe, as we shall have occasion shortly to note, 
but also in Russia and the Caucasus. These provin- 
cial enamels are cruder in workmanship, and the 
colors, especially the blue, less beautiful than the 
pure Byzantine productions. In the Morgan Col- 
lection a number of crescent-shaped gold earrings, 
bordered with pearls and decorated with birds in 





FIG. 29. ENAMELED RELIQUARY 
BYZANTINE, VII-VIII CENTURY 


cloisonné enamel, and several gold necklaces with 
similar ornament (Case J) illustrate the character- 
istics of Russo-Byzantine enameling in the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries. 

The highest quality of Byzantine enameling 1s 
exemplified in the nine medallions in Case J (fig. 28) 
with half-length figures of Christ, the Virgin, and 
saints, which once decorated a large icon of Saint 
Gabriel, now destroyed, formerly in the church of 
the monastery of Jumati in Georgia (Caucasia). 
The medallions, which date from the end of the 
eleventh century, are superlatively fine in execution, 
design, and color. The minute surfaces of the clo1- 
sons give the sheen of gold to the rich hues of the 
enamel—to the blue and green, scarlet, yellow, and 


55 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


flesh color, which are set like gems in the plain gold 
of the background. 

One of the most celebrated pieces in the collection 
is a reliquary‘ in the form of a small silver-gilt box 
with sliding lid, designed to hold a fragment of the 
True’ Cross (fig. 29). On the“uppermsiiemc meu 
lid the Crucifixion is depicted in cloisonné enamel; 
the under side is ornamented in niello with scenes of 
the Annunciation, Nativ- 
ity, Crucifixion, and As- 
cension.-)iNiellomismed 
variety of enameling in 
which the design, en- 
graved in the metal, is 
filled with a black sub- 
stance composed of silver, 
lead, copper, and sulphur. 
The sides of the box are 
decorated with plaques of 
cloisonné enamel repre- 
senting various saints. 
According to tradition, 
this reliquary once belonged to Pope Innocent IV, 
a member of whose family 1s said to have brought it 
home from the Crusades. The relic was ultimately 
presented to the church at Lavagna, the box remain- 
ing as an heirloom in the Fieschi family. The 
reliquary was once contained in the tenth-century 
Byzantine ivory casket shown in Case G, to which 
reference has already been made. 

In Case J 1s also shown an important group of 
rare French enamels of the twelfth century. The 
importation of Byzantine enamels into western 


mii ey me 
laa , jal = 





FIG. 30. SAINT WILLIAM 
LIMOGES, XII CENTURY 


*Formerly in the Oppenheim Collection. 


56 


GALLERY Fo 2 


Europe stimulated the local craftsmen early in the 
Romanesque period to imitate these products of the 
Eastern Empire (see page 32). 
Copper was substituted for the 
gold used by the Byzantine 
enamelers, and gilded to give 
the effect of the precious metal. 
The cloisonné method fell into 
disuse, and was superseded by 
the more economical method of 
champlevé. In the latter proc- 
ess, the cells to hold the enamel 
are sunk in the metal itself in- 
stead of being formed of small 
strips soldered to the surface of 
the plaque. The enamel was 
usually opaque, instead of trans- 
lmecntgetat eirst ~the back- 
grounds were left plain, or re- 
served. Later, especially during 
the thirteenth century, a rever- 
sal of this method was in favor; 
the enamel was applied only to 
the background and the main 
elements of the design were re- 
served. Both methods were 
sometimes used in combination. | 
Two French plaques of early FIG. 31. VIRGIN 

twelfth-century enamel recall Ural ct 

Byzantine influence in the use | 

of the cloisonné process. Typical of the finest French 
champlevé enamel in the twelfth century are five 
medallions which once formed part of the decoration 
of a reliquary casket in the church at Conques; the 


57 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


color combination of white, light and dark green, 
and three shades of blue is particularly successful. 
A remarkable example of figure composition in the 
second half of the century is a large plaque represent- 
ing Saint William (fig. 30). More brilliant in color 
and superbly decorative in design are six plaques from 
a chasse (figs. 32, 33) which date from the late twelfth 
or, more probably, the early thirteenth century. 

In the adjoining floor case (K) are Mosan and 
Rhenish enamels of the twelfth century. The leader 
of the school which flourished in the region of the 
Meuse was the celebrated Walloon goldsmith, Gode- 
froid de Claire. Although Liége was probably the 
center of the Mosan school, its field of activity ex- 
tended beyond the limits of the diocese, for not only 
did the influence of Godefroid de Claire’s work reach 
farther south in the valley, but also in the last quarter 
of the twelfth century manifested itself in the work 
of the: Rhenish craftsmen at Cologne. Maestrich 
also probably played an important part in this school. 
By Godefroid de Claire, or of his atelier, are several - 
enamels in the collection. Two plaques of about 
1170-75, representing the Baptism (fig. 34) and 
the Crucifixion, are undoubtedly the work of this 
master at the very height of his powers. For bril- 
liancy of color and beauty of design these plaques 
may be counted among the masterpieces of mediaeval 
enamel. Plaques such as these were intended for 
the decoration of reliquaries, crosses, book-covers, 
portable altars, and other objects of ecclesiastical 
furniture. A popular subject is illustrated by a 
group of five plaques, representing Christ en- 
throned in majesty and surrounded by the sym- 
bols of the four Evangelists: the angel (Matthew), 


58 





FIG. 32. ENAMELED PLAQUE FROM A CHASSE 
EARLY XIII CENTURY 





FIG. 33. ENAMELED PLAQUE FROM A CHASSE 
EARLY XIII CENTURY 





FIG. 34. THE BAPTISM 
OF CHRIST 
ENAMELED PLAQUE 
BY GODEFROID DE CLAIRE 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the lion (Mark), the ox (Luke), and the eagle 
(John). 

On the opposite side of Case K is a group of four 
plaques with scenes from the life of Christ, which 
originally ornamented the top of a SaRelst altar. 
The enamel is typical of the Rhenish school at 
Cologne in the last quarter of the twelfth century. A 
Rhenish plaque of about 1180, 
representing Saint John the 
Evangelist, is attributed to the 
celebrated enameler, Friderikus 
of Cologne (figat 2) Other 
plaques represent different 
phases of German enameling of 
this period. 

In Cases L and M, against the 
north wall of the gallery, are 
the larger examples of Roman- 
esque enamel and metalwork. 
In Case L attention may be 
called to a crucifix with enamels 
FIG. 35. caNnpLEsTICK of the Mosan school. Unusual 
aia MeTAt~ in color and style is an enameled 

box of Scandinavian or German 
origin. On the back of the case is a large triptych 
composed of French and German enamel plaques of 
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and enriched 
with engraved gems and cameos of various periods; 
the central panel of the Virgin and Child is a particu- 
larly fine example of Rhenish or Mosan work. Of 
great rarity is a richly decorated portable altar. A 
pricket candlestick composed of three pieces of rock 
crystal with elaborate copper-gilt mounts exemplifies 
the high esteem accorded to crystal in mediaeval 

60 








. . CHASSE 
SPANISH, XIII CENTURY 


FIG. 36 





BOOK-COVER 
XIII CENTURY 


FIG. 37. 
GERMAN, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Europe. The mounts are French work of the twelfth 
century; the carving on the crystal, Arabic of the 
tenth century (fig. 35). 

Between Cases L and M is a distinguished example 
of Romanesque wood-carving, an enthroned Virgin 
(originally holding the Child), probably north 
French in origin (fig. 31). 

In Case M the art of the European enameler in 
the late twelftheand 
thirteenth centuries is 
exemplified by several 
important piccemmama 
copper-gilt reliquary in 
the form of a bag, orna- 
mented with enamel and 
crystal cabochons (fig. 
39); a large casket similar 
to the famous coffer at 
Conques, decorated with 
thirty medallions of 
champlevé enamel; a fin- 
ial and some colonnettes 
with enameled shafts 
from chasses. A piece of 
unusual character is a small chasse of copper and 
silver-gilt, Spanish work of the thirteenth century 
(fig. 36). Undoubtedly Spanish 1s a magnificent 
processional cross (fig. 38) in silver-gilt, signed by 
the maker, Sanccia (Sanchez) Guidisalvi; it comes 
from the Church of San Salvador in Fuentes, near 
Villaviciosa, province of Asturias, Spain. Another 
processional cross in this case, extremely primitive in 
character, is perhaps a Spanish work of the eleventh 
century. Between these crosses is shown a sumptu- 

62 





FIG. 38. SILVER CROSS 
SPANISH, XII CENTURY 


GALLERY ¥ 2 


ously decorated book-cover (fig. 37), ornamented 
with porphyry, copper-gilt and precious stones and 
crystals. The cross exhibited in the little wall-case 
nearby is of the eleventh or twelfth century. 

Against the window wall is shown an interesting 
example of Early Christian sculpture, a fragment 
of a marble sarcophagus of the Sidamara type dating 
from the middle of the third century. Nearby is a 
large stone carving from the 
Church of St. Leonard at Zamo- 
ra, Spain, representing the Lion 
of the Tribe of Judah (Christ), 
Saint Leonard freeing two pris- 
oners, the Annunciation to the 
Virgin, and her Coronation. On 
the opposite wall, attention may 
be called to a marble baptismal : 
Pemeercineciemeniitch of Santa 2G 39- RELIQUARY 
Niegemcemramro, in Calabria; “7 7" 
according to a Greek inscription around the rim, the 
font was made by order of the Abbot Luke in 1137. 
The small tapestry of the Crucifixion is a fragment of 
a larger tapestry of which two other fragments are in 
the museum at Nuremberg. It is a rare example of 
French fourteenth-century weaving. If the tortured 
body of the Christ in the Crucifixion tapestry 1s com- 
pared with the representations of the same subject in 
the eleventh- or twelfth-century ivories exhibited in 
the case below, the visitor will observe that a new 
emotional quality, absent in the earlier examples, has 
entered into the rendering of the theme. The condi- 
tions which brought about this transformation of 
Christian iconography is one of the topics we shall 
consider in the following chapter on Gothic art. 

63 








POs rieliC 
ART 





( 





Clean PP Dea 
INTRODUCTION 


What is Gothic art? Properly, of course, it is the 
art of the Goths, a barbarian people upon whose 
fortunes we touched in our first chapter; but obvi- 
ously the art of these Germanic metalworkers is 
infinitely removed from the glorious cathedrals, the 
masterpieces of painting and sculpture, the treasures 
of applied art which we are accustomed to call 
Gothic. In doing so, however, we perpetuate an 
error which arose in the Late Renaissance, when 
everything which was not in the classical taste was 
consigned to the limbo of barbarism and described 
as “Gothic.” But, like many other inappropriate 
terms in art history, the word has become too firmly 
fixed in our vocabulary—although the implication of 
inferiority has now disappeared—to suffer any sub- 
stitution. We continue, therefore, to describe as 
Gothic the monuments of that style which, originat- 
ing-in the second half of the twelfth century, pre- 
vailed generally throughout Europe (with the excep- 
tion of Italy after the fourteenth century)! until the 
sixteenth century when it was gradually so trans- 
formed, mainly through the influence of Italian Re 
naissance art, as to lose its identity as a separate 
style. 


1In the fifteenth century Italy gave rise to the Renaissance style. 


67 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Of outstanding importance in the political history 
of our period is the collapse of the Holy Empire upon 
the death of the Emperor Frederick II (1250). The 
mediaeval ideal of “universal monarchy and indivisi- 
ble Christendom” had proved unworkable. With 
the downfall of the Empire—from now on, as Voltaire 
remarked, neither holy, Roman, nor an empire— 
came the gradual rise of the modern state, the 
growing consciousness of nationality, the decline 
of feudalism, and the development, especially in 
France and England, of monarchical centralization. 
The trend of monarchical government toward abso- 
lutism, conspicuous in France, was checked in Eng- 
land by the evolution (1213-1295) of a representa- 
tive parliament, which imposed limitations upon the 
crown and united all classes in the common interest 
of the state. Neither Italy nor the disorganized 
German states of the defunct Empire attained na- 
tional unity until modern times. Spain was more 
fortunate; Aragon and Castile were united in 1469 
through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, and 
the last vestiges of Moorish domination disappeared 
with the conquest of Granada in 1492. 

A spiritual revival, of great importance to art, was 
accomplished in the thirteenth century. Arid scho- 
lasticism in theology and the not infrequent world- 
liness and misconduct of the clergy had caused 
widespread disaffection. To crush the opposition of 
those who questioned the teachings of the Church, 
the terrible Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) was 
launched, and the Inquisition established; but the 
mendicant orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi 
(1181 or 1182-1226) and by Saint Dominic (1170- 
1221) were far more effective means of regeneration. 

68 


GOTHIC ART 


The preaching friars of Saint Dominic combated 
heresies and became a power in the universities. The 


Franciscan brethren in their min- 
istry to the lowly spread the ideals 
of poverty, chastity, and obedience 
to which they were vowed. Thus 
the Church was brought into closer 
relation with the people, and faith 
revived as religion descended from 
the chill heights of theology to the 
sunny levels illumined by the self- 
sacrifice, the joyous devotion, the 
all-embracing sympathy of the Po- 
verello of Assisi. 

Victorious in its long contest 
with imperial ambitions and 
strengthened by the spiritual re- 
vival of the thirteenth century, the 
Church for a short time at the 
close of the century held a position 
of undisputed supremacy, both 
temporal and spiritual. But the 
new spirit of national independ- 
ence, which had been developing 
in France and England, soon led to 
a conflict over matters of taxation 
in which the authority of Rome re- 
ceived a shattering blow. Then 
followed the humiliation of the 
“Babylonish Captivity” from 1305 
to 1377, during which period the 
popes resided at Avignon under the 
thumb ofuerance. After the re- 





RiGaAo} 
FRAGMENT OF A 
CHOIR STALL 
ENGLISH (?) 
XIV CENTURY 


turn to Rome, the Great Schism (1378-1417), the 


69 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


disputes of the Church Councils, the failure to re- 
form ecclesiastical abuses, the revival of learning, and 
the identification of the higher clergy with the lit- 
erary and artistic activities of the humanistic move- 
ment—notoriously characterized in the person of 
many of its most distinguished leaders by immo- 
rality and religious indifference—left the Church ill. 
prepared to withstand the Protestant Revolution 
which in the sixteenth century split Christian Europe 
asunder. 

There was a great increase in wealth during the 
period we are considering. Industries and trade as- 
sumed considerable proportions, and the burgesses 
and craftsmen of the numerous towns which sprang 
up as feudalism waned played a part of ever-increas- 
ing importance in mediaeval society. It was the 
muscles and the piety of the communes that reared 
the stupendous fabrics of the twelfth- and thirteenth- 
century cathedrals. Within the shelter of the city 
walls, the artistic crafts, hitherto confined almost 
exclusively to monastic workshops, took on a new 
vigor; masters trained apprentices in the various arts, 
and guilds were organized to maintain standards and 
regulate trade. 

Commerce prospered as greater familiarity with 
the compass encouraged maritime exploration. The 
Crusades of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and 
the overland trade with the Orient aroused curiosity 
about foreign lands. It was in the thirteenth cen- 
tury that Marco Polo and his uncles made their 
famous journeys to China. The ocean route to 
India was found by the Portuguese in the fif- 
teenth century; and in the same century Chris- 
topher Columbus discovered the New World. 


7O 


GOTHIC ART 


With the compass may be instanced gunpowder, 
paper, and the invention of printing as influential 
factors in shaping the course of civilization. Ex- 
plosive compounds were known in the thirteenth 
century; by the middle of the fourteenth, powder 
factories were in operation and cannon coming into 
use; but it was not until about 1500 that the increas- 
ing prominence of the fire- 
arm began to revolutionize 
methods of warfare, and, 
piece by piece, the knight 
discarded his panoply of 
armor as it increased i 
weight to meet the de- 
structiveness of the new 
weapon. Although paper 
was manufactured in Eu- 
rope from the late thir- 
teenth century onward, it 
did not become a readily 
available commodity until 
Pete eleeediaiey, vine.) \) 7102 41.. , WOOD-CARVING 
: : ANTWERP MARK (A HAND) 
increased production of aA 
paper made possible the 
rapid development of printing in the second half of 
the fifteenth century. Around the middle of the 
century the art of printing from movable type began 
to be practised in northern Europe, and soon spread 
to Italy. In the sixteenth century numerous presses 
were at work throughout Europe. Needless to say, 
the printed book not only offered a fresh opportunity 
for artistic expression, but had an inestimable effect 
upon the advancement of knowledge and the shap- 
ing of opinion. 





gi 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Although the properties of the lens were discovered 
in the thirteenth century, and Roger Bacon sur- 
mised, if he did not actually know, the possibility of 
the lens as applied to the telescope and microscope, 
little practical use of this discovery was made before 
1600. Science was still in its infancy, hampered by 
veneration for the past and by the lack of a proper 
scientific method. Modern science may be said to 
date only from the seventeenth century when ex- 
perimental research was substituted for reliance on 
ancient authority. Nevertheless, some real ad- 
vances were made in the earlier period. The study 
of mathematics was materially facilitated by the 
substitution of Arabic numerals for the clumsy 
Roman system of letters. Although the practice 
of the healing arts was still characterized in the 
main by ignorance, superstition, and charlatanry, 
important contributions were made by Vesalius to 
the study of anatomy; and medicine profited from the 
new direction which Paracelsus gave to alchemy, the 
pretended art of making gold and silver, when the 
scope of this early form of chemistry was enlarged to 
include the preparation of medicines. The astrologer, 
turned astronomer, made a discovery of utmost value, 
when Copernicus in the first half of the sixteenth 
century refuted the long-accepted Ptolemaic doc- 
trines and proved that the earth was not the center 
of the universe but moved with other planets around 
the sun. Galileo’s astronomical discoveries and his 
contributions to the science of mathematics belong 
to our modern age, rather than to that which pre- 
ceded it. | 

When we remember the abysmal ignorance in which 
most of Europe was plunged even as late as the 


72 


GOTHIC ART 


thirteenth century, it is not surprising that some 
time should have had to elapse after the revival of 
learning in the fourteenth century before much prog- 
ress could be made. Although the thirteenth cen- 
tury saw a great increase in the number of univer- 
sities, anything like independence of thought was 
still, with rare exceptions, undreamed of by the 
mediaeval scholar, revolving in his narrow orbit of 
theology, law, and philosophy. A new day dawned 
in the following century when Petrarch, the Italian 
poet-scholar, first taught the right method of study- 
ing the Latin classics, which the mediaeval school- 
men with their habit of allegorical interpretation 
had misunderstood, and thus opened the treasure- 
house of classical literature. The task of mastering 
Greek was successfully undertaken by Boccaccio. 
A multitude of scholars followed these pioneers, and 
the recovery of ancient culture was pursued with a 
fervor which enlisted men of all classes in the cause. 
Ancient manuscripts were eagerly sought for, copied 
in manuscript, or disseminated through the printing- 
press. Crowds thronged to hear the itinerant pro- 
fessors of the antique culture, and universities 
became more numerous. Existing monuments of 
classical architecture and sculpture were regarded 
with a new and passionate interest; we shall have 
occasion later on to point out that the Renaissance 
style of art which originated in Italy in the fifteenth 
century owed some of its principal characteristics 
to this enthusiasm for antiquity. In the art of 
letters, the fascination of classical example led to 
much pedantic and futile imitation of Greek and 
Latin writers, but literature in the vernacular, al- 
ready distinguished by the great names of Dante, 


73 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Boccaccio, and Chaucer, bided its time, awaiting 
its triumph in such masterpieces as Ariosto’s Or- 
lando Furioso, Rabelais’s immortal satire, and the 
plays of Shakespeare. 

The “comprehensive movement of the European 
intellect and will toward self-emancipation,” ? which 
had been gathering force since the thirteenth cen- 
tury, received a great impetus from the revival of 
learning. In the vision of the past, revealed by the 
new scholarship, there was rediscovered “the dignity 
of man as a rational, volitional and sentient being, 
born on earth with a right to use it and enjoy it.” 
Humanism, as this attitude toward life is called, re- 
awakened man’s self-esteem from the narcosis induced 
by mediaeval preoccupation with the how and why 
of salvation. That man was vile and the world a 
narrow prison-house the humanists denied. A new 
stage in the evolution of human thought had been 
attained; the Middle Ages were over. 

It was not humanism, however, but ardent Chris- 
tian piety which inspired the erection of the great 
cathedrals of the thirteenth century—the supreme 
monuments of Gothic art in its early period. 

During the second half of the twelfth century and 
the first years of the thirteenth century, France 
evolved and perfected the new style of organic 
Gothic architecture, a system of stone vaults, sup- 
ports, and buttresses, in which an equilibrium of 
thrusts and counterthrusts assured stability, struc- 
ture was frankly revealed, and structural forms 
made to contribute to the aesthetic impression. An 
exceptional opportunity for the development of 


?'‘The quotations in this paragraph are from the writings of John Adding. 
ton Symonds. 


74 


ee ee 


THE EMBLEM 


AND IN THE 


’ 


i — | 
LES STE 





TAPESTRY, SHOWING THE ROSE, 


FIG 42: 


OF CHARLES VII OF FRANCE 


STRIPED BACKGROUND HIS COLORS 


ABOUT 1435 


5) 


ARRAS 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


“pointed architecture” was afforded by the numer- 
ous great cathedrals which were built in France in 
the later part of the twelfth century and in the 
hundred years following, when the prosperity of a 
new communal life coincided with a popular religious 
revival. During these years arose the majestic fanes 
of Chartres, Paris, Amiens, Rheims—to mention but a 
few of the celebrated French churches of this period. 
By the end of the thirteenth century, the enthusiasm 
began to slacken. Churches continued to be built 
and Gothic architecture achieved fresh triumphs in 
the secular field, but the age of cathedral building 
ended with the thirteenth century. — 

In the meantime, however, the Gothic style had 
spread from France to other European countries, 
where it was modified to suit local conditions of taste 
and climate, The three principal styles of English 
Gothic architecture—the lancet, the decorated, and 
the perpendicular (corresponding respectively to the 
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries)—have 
a distinctly national character. Germany exhibits 
both original and imitative qualities. Spanish Gothic 
presents characteristics of marked individuality. 
The French Gothic style was carried to Italy by the 
Cistercians, but never took firm root; climatic con- 
ditions and the still lingering tradition of classical 
architecture were more favorable for the genesis of a 
new style—the Renaissance—than for submission 
to the northern fashion. Common decorative forms, 
in which the pointed arch is conspicuous, give to 
these different national styles a homogeneous charac- 
ter, but it was only in France that the structural 
principles of organic Gothic architecture were con- 
sistently observed. 

76 


GOTHIC ART 


The Gothic style originated in the solution of 
problems incidental to the use of stone vaulting. 
The Romanesque builders, who substituted the stone 
vault for the timber roof of the Christian basilica, 
failed to grasp the possibilities of vaulted architecture. 
Their heavy barrel and groined vaults were imprac- 
tical as a means of covering wide spaces and necessi- 
tated the erection of low, thick walls to receive the 
weight and thrust of the vaulting. Although the pier 
buttress was known and a rudimentary flying buttress 
occurs 1n some late Romanesque churches, concealed 
in the building itself, the stability of the building de- 
pended in general upon the strength of the wall alone. 

A new method of equalizing the active forces re- 
sulting from the weight of the stone vault was gradu- 
ally worked out in the Ile-de-France and in Nor- 
mandy during the first half of the twelfth century, 
and the Gothic style which resulted from these experi- 
ments in construction received its first definite ex- 
pression in Abbot Suger’s church of St. Denis (1140). 
The essential feature of the new system was the use 
of intersecting diagonal ribs in the vaulting, which 
concentrated weight and thrust at definite intervals, 
where these forces were directed to the ground 
through piers and flying buttresses. With the equi- 
librium of opposing parts assured by this organic 
ossature, the wall was now reduced to the function of 
a mere screen and was practically eliminated by the 
introduction of large windows filled with stained 
glass. The flexibility of the vaulting system allowed 
a great latitude in matters of size and proportion, 

while still preserving a uniformity of style which was 
“never attained by the regional schools of Romanesque 
architecture. 


77 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Thirteenth-century Gothic architecture is distin- 
guished by austerity of form, relieved by ornament 
concentrated in appropriate places. In the four- 
teenth century the style became lighter construc- 
tionally, and exhibited a greater refinement in detail 
and a tendency toward over-rich decoration. ‘These 
qualities were accentuated in the following century 
with the vogue of the flamboyant style, so called 
from the flame-like curves of its tracery. Toward 
the end of the century a change in taste became mani- 
fest, and in the first half of the sixteenth century the 
influence of the Renaissance art of Italy showed 
itself increasingly in the application of ornamental 
forms of classical derivation to traditionally Gothic 
structure. By the middle of the century the Gothic 
style was definitely superseded by that of the Renais- 
sance. 

Military, civic, and domestic architecture made 
no novel contribution to the constructional develop- 
ment of the Gothic style, although presenting many 
elements which are interesting from the point of 
view of decoration and plan. Any sketch of Gothic 
architecture, however brief, would be incomplete 
without a mention of the walled cities of Aigues- 
Mortes and Carcassonne; of the great castles of 
Coucy and Pierrefonds; of the town and guild halls 
which are the chief glories of Gothic architecture in 
the Netherlands; and of such private mansions as 
the house of Jacques Coeur at Bourges; but unques- 
tionably the finest achievement of Gothic archi- 
tecture is the thirteenth-century French cathedral. 

This word conjures up a picture before us—a vision 
of narrow, crowded streets and low, overhanging 
houses, in the midst of which rises a stupendous edi- 


78 


COPTIC AK 


fice of stone, its spires.and pinnacles ascending swiftly 
heavenward as if fraught with the aspirations of the 
thousands who gather within its walls. The principal 
facade faces west, and is designed to correspond with 
the interior division of the 
church into nave and aisles; 
here are the flanking towers, 
the deep-set portals with 
their sculptured imagery, 
the arcaded gallery, and the 
intricate tracery of the great 
rose window. From the 
high-pitched roof sweeps 
down along the sides and 
around the apse the “lithic 
cascade” of the flying but- 
tresses, breaking into the 
foam of countless pinnacles 
and crockets. Gargoyles 
project their monstrous 
bodies from eaves and but- 
tresses, and north and south 
portals give the sculptor 
opportunities for the more 
decorous employment of his 
chisel. Within, one has the 
impression of tremendous 
height, of innumerable piers branching into the ribs of 
the vault, of stained glass glowing in the dusk. Here, 
too, in the carving of capitals, choir-stalls, choir 
enclosures, rood-screens, altarpieces, the sculptor 
finds employment; the painter contributes his share 
to the embellishment of the house of God; and from 
the hands of skilled craftsmen come the precious 


qo 





FIG. 43. RELIQUARY 
ITALIAN, XV CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


vestments and the furniture of the altar. We must 
think of the Gothic cathedral not in terms of archi- 
tecture alone, but as a sum of all the arts. 

When monumental sculpture, after centuries of 
neglect, reappeared in the Romanesque period, it 
took the form mainly of relief carving applied to 
architecture. Sculpture in the round presented an 
even greater problem to the inexperienced craftsman. 
A solution, however, was not long delayed. As early 
as the middle of the twelfth century a new spirit of 
naturalism began to animate the plastic arts, and the 
earlier dependence on such models as miniatures and 
ivory-carvings was gradually replaced by independent 
observation. The sculptures of the Royal Portal 
of Chartres, in lieu of the destroyed statuary of St. 
Denis, mark the beginning of a transitional school 
which flourished in the Ile-de-France and adjacent 
regions in the second half of the twelfth century. 
With the shifting of artistic activity from the monas- 
teries to the prosperous towns, sculpture partook of 
the freshness and vigor of communal life, and produc- 
tion was encouraged by the vast iconographical pro- 
grams of sculptural decoration which were developed 
upon the facades of the Gothic cathedrals. Under 
these conditions progress was rapid, and in the course 
of the thirteenth century the sculptor acquired a 
technical competence fully adequate for the expres- 
sion of all that was truly significant in form and sentt- 
ment. 

The finest sculpture of the thirteenth century, that 
of northern and central France, is characterized by 
idealism and by a simplicity admirably in accord 
with its architectural purpose. A perfect balance 
was maintained between formal abstractions, neces- 

80 


GOolLaiGcArRT 


sary to a monumental style, and the new ability to 
imitate nature, which is evident in the correct pro- 
portions, the expressive countenances and gestures, 
the freedom of movement, and the natural rendering 
of the drapery, characteristic of sculpture in this 
period. Toward the end of the 
century, French sculpture be- 
gan to lose something of its 
earlier nobility; a more mun- 
dane spirit made its appear- 
ance; the forms became more 
graceful, the sentiment more 
tender, the action more dra- 
matic (fig. 44). These qualities 
degenerated in the fourteenth 
century into pretty affectations 
of style—but not until 
thirteenth - century sculpture, 
hovering for an exquisite mo- 
ment between heaven and earth, 
had produced such master- 
pieces as the Golden Virgin of 
Amiens and the Smiling Angel 
of Rheims. 
In sculpture, as in architec- 

; ; FIG. 44. VIRGIN 
ture, the leadership rested with Song free 
France in the thirteenth cen- FRENCH, ABOUT I300 
tury. The not extensive sculp- 
ture of the Low Countries in this period was wholly 
dependent upon France. German sculpture drew 
inspiration from the same source but, in stressing 
the realistic elements, evolved a national style. 
~The close relationship between Spain and France 
continued as in the Romanesque period. The 

81 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Gothic sculpture of England reflected French de- 
velopment, but rarely achieved great distinction. 
In Italy a tentative classical revival in the second half 
of the thirteenth century characterizes the work 
of Nicola d’Apulia, who is also called Nicola Pisano, 
from his residence at Pisa. But this Proto-Renais- 
sance was short-lived. Nicola’s son, Giovanni, who 
dominates fourteenth-century Italian sculpture, was 
a thoroughgoing Gothicist, intent upon dramatic 
expression and the violent realization of forms. 

In the fourteenth century these divergences of na- 
tional style, which we have just noted, merged more 
or less completely into one international style center- 
ing around France as the arbiter of fashion. As the 
large cathedrals had received most or all of their 
sculptured decoration by this time, the sculptor was 
now principally occupied with the production of 
single figures independent of architectural setting, 
and with the tomb sculptures which attest the growth 
of secular patronage. As already indicated, a man- 
nered but winsome elegance, producing an exag- 
gerated grace of posture—the “Gothic slouch’’—and 
an excessive complication of drapery folds are charac- 
teristic in general of fourteenth-century sculpture 
(fig. 65). But in the second half of the century, a re- 
generative trend toward realism, encouraged by the 
secular demand for portraiture, is tentatively mani- 
fested in the art of France and of the Low Countries. 
This realistic movement was developing spontane- 
ously in various parts of Europe; it was international 
rather than local in character. 

At the end of the fourteenth century and in the 
early years of the fifteenth, the realistic movement 
attained complete expression in the work of Claus 

82 


GOTHIC ART 


Sluter at the luxurious Burgundian court of Philippe 
le Hardi. The mannered grace, the dainty refine- 
ments of sentiment and form, which in the four- 
teenth century had succeeded the noble idealism of 
the earlier Gothic period, now gave way to the asperi- 
ties of realism. The Burgundian school, animated 
by Sluter’s extraordinary ex- 
ample, played an important 
part in spreading the realistic 
manner through most of France 
(fig. 45). It was only in the 
region of the Loire that there 
still remained something of the 
grace and delicate charm of the 
earlier style (fig. 46). In Italy 
naturalism was disciplined by 
the example of classical art; be- 
yond the Alps the realistic 
movement swept _ practically 
unchecked throughout Europe. 
But toward the later part of 
the fifteenth century in France, 
and sporadically elsewhere, 

there came a certain weariness "45: MOURNER 

FRENCH 

with the vulgarity and spiritual Pe, gees Soe tne 
poverty of unmodified realism. 

The sculpture of the détente, or period of relaxation, 
which ensued, found its best expression in the school 
of the Loire (fig. 75), headed by the famous Michel 
Colombe. The return to the earlier traditions could 
not, however, withstand the influence of the Italian 
Renaissance, which in the second half of the six- 
teenth century was widely disseminated. Gothic art, 
exhausted by more than three centuries of original 


83 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


achievement, lacked the energy to resist the fascina- 
tion of Italianism. 

Painting followed much the same course of de- 
velopment as sculpture, although progress in nat- 
uralistic representation came at a somewhat later 
date than in the plastic art. “The*Gothierenmien: 
with its limited wall space, offered little opportunity 
for mural painting, so that in the thirteenth century, 
north of the Alps, pictorial expression takes the form 
principally of stained-glass windows and of miniature 
paintings in manuscripts. The stained glass of this 
period is composed of small pieces or “mosaics” of 
colored glass, with the design outlined by the leading. 
In beauty of color and as decoration, stained glass of 
this period has never been surpassed. Incidents of 
scriptural history and legends of the saints are nar- 
rated with forceful simplicity, but the mode of rep- 
resentation is hardly less conventional than in the 
preceding period. Miniature painting was also high- 
ly developed; gem-like colors against golden back- 
grounds recall the brilliant hues of stained glass; but 
the drawing is more supple and gracious, without, 
however, any great advance in naturalism. 

It was reserved for an Italian, Giotto of Florence, 
to strike the keynote of modern painting—the imi- 
tation of nature. A new spirit animated Italian 
painting at the close of the thirteenth century, when 
Pietro Cavallini at Rome achieved something of 
classic beauty and plastic form; and at Siena, Duccio, 
the slightly younger contemporary of Giotto, brought 
Byzantine painting to its supreme perfection as an 
art of decoration. But further progress had to come 
from a renewed contact with nature; and it was the 
life and action that characterize Giotto’s paintings, 


84 


GOTHIC ART 


his dramatic narration of themes old and new, his 
human sympathies which principally gave Italian 
art its new direction and new impetus. Giotto’s suc- 
cessors in the fourteenth century popularized the 
master’s style but made little original contribution. 
The school of Siena, headed 
by Simone Martini, was not 
uninfluenced by Giotto’s 1n- 
novations but preserved its 
individuality, more intent 
on the lyric phases of devo- 
tional painting and on the 
achievement of formal 
beauty than concerned with 
realistic endeavors. The de- 
velopment of Italian paint- 
ing in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries will be 
considered in the chapter 
on Renaissance art. 
Outside of Italy, painting 
in the fourteenth century 
produced much that is de- 
lightful, especially minta- 
tures and the panel-paint- yg. 46. sain MICHAEL 
ings of certain German FRENCH, ABOUT. 1475 
masters. The significant 
fact to note is that toward the end of the century a 
strong realistic trend, corresponding to the same 
movement in sculpture, makes its appearance in the 
work of the French and Flemish painters, who re- 
ceived encouragement from the French king, Charles 
-V, and from the Dukes of Burgundy and Berri. 
With the disasters to the French crown in the 


85 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Hundred Years’ War, the Netherlands became the 
principal foyer of artistic activity, and Flemish artists 
dominated fifteenth-century Gothic painting. 

In the first quarter of the century two great Flem- 
ish masters, Jan and Hubert Van Eyck, perfected the 
oil medium, and in their celebrated masterpiece of 
the Adoration of the Lamb demonstrated its superi- 
ority as well as their own astounding skill in realistic 
representation. Painting now takes on a more robust 
and solid appearance; the forms are highly modeled, 
and the colors, without losing any of their richness, 
are more subtly varied and combined. The realistic 
preoccupations of the Van Eycks were continued 
by their successors. The most gifted of these were 
Roger van der Weyden, whose work (fig. 47) is char- 
acterized by a poignant emotionalism, and the 
amiable Hans Memling, whose tranquil style com- 
bines something of Italian grace with the objectivity 
of northern realism. With Quentin Massys Italian 
influence made itself definitely felt in Flemish paint- 
ing, and in the course of the sixteenth century trans- 
formed the Gothic style of the Low Countries. 

The dominant trait of German painting in the late 
fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century 1s 
mystic tenderness. In the second half of the fif- 
teenth century Flemish influence became paramount, 
and the delicate realism of Martin Schongauer marks 
the beginning of a new era which culminated in 
the masterly works of Albrecht Durer and Hans Hol- 
bein the Younger. Holbein resembles the Italian 
naturalists in his avoidance of excess, his instinctive 
feeling for pure beauty of form and color. Despite 
Diirer’s first-hand acquaintance with Italian art, 
which inspired him to fresh excellences, the Nurem- 

86 





FIG. 47. THE ANNUNCIATION 
BY ROGER VAN DER WEYDEN 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


berg master remained thoroughly Germanic in the 
Gothic precision and plenitude of detail with which 
he embodied his deeply imaginative conceptions. 

The most distinguished painter in France during 
the fifteenth century was Jean Fouquet, who intro- 
duced Italian ornament in his panel-paintings and 
miniatures, and tempered Gothic realism with an 
exquisite sensibility. In the sixteenth century the 
influence of imported Italian painters was over- 
whelming in France; among the few artists who re- 
tained their individuality and national character 
may be mentioned Clouet. Spanish painting in the 
fifteenth century was strongly influenced by Italy 
and the Netherlands; in the following century Italian 
influence became even more marked. 

The decorative arts reflect the changes in style 
which we have just noted in our discussion of Gothic 
architecture, painting, and sculpture. Ecclesiastical 
patronage was constant throughout the period, and 
with the growth of secular patronage and the spread 
of new ideals of luxury, the applied arts prospered 
exceedingly. Furniture became more plentiful in the 
fifteenth century. Choir-stalls, lecterns, and other 
church furniture continued to be produced, but an 
increasing number of beautifully ornamented chests 
(fig. 48) and dressers also were made for the dwelling- 
rooms of the nobles and wealthy burghers. Carving 
plays the principal part in the decoration of Gothic 
furniture, which in general design is architectural in 
character. Although one accustomed to the ease of 
modern life might find the Gothic interior rather 
bare and comfortless, it offered in compensation 
ample opportunities for the gratification of the eye 
when the walls were hung with tapestries. 

88 


GOTHIC ART 


Although tapestry-weaving was practised in Eu- 
rope as early as the thirteenth century, there are 
but few existing tapestries older than the fifteenth 
century. The chief center of tapestry-weaving in 
the Burgundian-French style during the first half of 
the fifteenth century was Arras (fig. 42); in the third 
quarter of the century, Tournai (fig. 64). The 
ateliers of Brussels became preéminent at the 





FIG. 48. CARVED WOOD CHEST 
FRENCH, XV CENTURY 


close of the century, and throughout the sixteenth 
century the finest tapestries were woven in the Low 
Countries. Toward the end of the fifteenth century 
Renaissance elements begin to appear in tapestry 
design, and after a transitional period covering ap- 
proximately the first third of the sixteenth century, 
the Gothic style was superseded by the Renaissance. 
A search for pictorial effects now replaced the earlier 
conventional style so admirably suited to the purpose 
which tapestries served as mural decorations, and, 
despite great technical facility, the craft rarely at- 


89 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


tained and never surpassed its triumphs of the Gothic 
period. The French ateliers of Touraine produced 
excellent work in the late fifteenth and early six- 
teenth centuries, and German ateliers were active 
throughout the Gothic period. In Italy, Flemish 
weavers worked at Mantua in the late fifteenth cen- 
tury, and at Florence in the manufactory established 
by the Medici in the sixteenth century. 





FIG. 49. IVORY DIPIVCH 
ATELIER OF THE DIPTYCHS OF THE PASSION 
FRENCH, XIV CENTURY 


In France during the late thirteenth and the four- 
teenth century, ivory-carving (figs. 49, 58-63) was a 
flourishing branch of the minor arts. These minia- 
ture carvings, in the form of devotional tablets, little 
shrines, and statuettes of the Virgin and Child, or of 
such secular objects as mirror-cases, combs, and 
caskets, reflect the contemporaneous development 
of monumental sculpture. Although these ivories 
are anonymous workshop productions, with Paris 
the probable center of the industry, they are often 


go 


GOTHIC ART 


among the most charming examples of Gothic art. 
The craft was never a popular one in Italy, but in the 
early years of the fifteenth century a considerable 
development took place in the north of Italy under 
the Embriachi, who decorated small caskets and 
mirror-frames with plaques of bone carved in the 
Gothic style, and usually with secular subjects. 





FIG. $0. ENAMELED SHRINE 
LIMOGES, XIII CENTURY 


In supplying the knight with armor; the church 
with reliquaries, croziers, crosses, SAA aes paxes, and 
other liturgical objects; and die layman with the 
utensils of daily usage, the Gothic craftsman de- 
veloped an extraordinary skill in the handling of 
metal and its intricate ornamentation (figs. 43,57, 68— 
72573974): 

In the thirteenth century, Limoges was the great 
center of enameling (figs. 50-52, 54, 55). As already 


; gI 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


noted (page 57), the cloisonné method of the Byzan- 
tines was superseded in the twelfth century by the 
champlevé technique, which remained in favor 
throughout the thirteenth century. The enameled 
plaques of copper-gilt for the decoration of chasses, 
book- covers, crosses, and similar objects, which were 
produced 1n great quantities at Limoges in the thir- 
teenth century, are the work of anonymous craftsmen, 
who were occupied, it is true, in industrial production, 
but who were so skilled in design and in the tasteful 
combination of the few colors then at the enameler’s 
command, that their productions well deserve their 
high reputation. In the fourteenth century the cham- 
plevé technique fell into disuse, and was replaced by a 
new fashion for translucent enamel applied over sunk 
relief carved on silver or gold plaques; this method of 
enameling was particularly popular in Italy. Then 
came the introduction of painted enamels toward the 
end of the fifteenth century (fig. 71). This was the 
favorite process in the sixteenth century, and in the 
production of painted enamels Limoges again held 
the leadership. 

These brief notes will give perhaps a general idea of 
the importance of the minor arts in the Gothic period; 
they will be supplemented by further comment in 
the chapters which describe the exhibits in the 
several galleries of Gothic art. 

In concluding this chapter, a few remarks on the 
development of iconography may be of interest. We 
have noted in the discussion of the Romanesque 
period that the religious art of western Europe at this 
time was more didactic than the Byzantine, and 1n- 
cluded a wider range of subject material. Develop- 
ing along the same lines, the art of the thirteenth 


02 ‘ 


GOTHIC ART 


century elaborated the earlier encyclopedic pro- 
grams, and in the decorations of its great cathedrals 
strove to coordinate in one vast, comprehensive 
scheme the sum of human knowledge as interpreted 
by such schoolmen as Vincent de Beauvais, the 
author of a famous compendium, the Bibliotheca 
Mundi or Speculum Majus; or by Saint Thomas 
Aquinas, whose Summa Theologiae is an exhaustive 
discussion of Christian 
doctrine in the light of 
Aristotle’s philosophy. 

In the meantime, while 
the theologians were de- 
vising allegories, symbols, 
types, and figurations to 
be illustrated on the walls 
of the cathedrals, we must 
Hotyforget that Saint 
Francis was humanizing 
religion. The rapidity 
with which the new form 
of piety spread throughout 
Europe 1s proof enough, if proof were wanting, that 
the appeal to man’s heart is ever more potent than 
the appeal to his intellect. A changing attitude is 
evident in the new prominence given to the scenes of 
the Passion in the cathedral sculptures of the second 
half of the thirteenth century, and, toward the end 
of the century, in the substitution of a more pathetic 
type of crucified Savior for the earlier representa- 
tions of Christ triumphant on the cross—instead of 
standing erect, the body now sags from the cross, 
the head bends low, the eyes are closed in death, and 

a crown of thorns replaces the royal symbol. 


93 





FIG. $I. CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL 


LIMOGES, XIII CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


But it is in Italy that we find the earliest and 
clearest manifestations in art of the new piety. The 
Fioretti and the poems of Jacopone da Todi, the 
Meditations from the Life of Jesus Christ ascribed 
to Bonaventura, and the Golden Legend of Jacobus 
de Voragine give literary expression to the popular 
yearning for a simpler, more emotional religion than 
the doctrinal involutions of the theologians—for a 
religion which should emphasize the humanity of 
Christ, of His gracious mother, and of the blessed 
company of saints and martyrs, and inspire love as 
well as reverence. The same sentiment animates the 
paintings of Giotto, in fact, of Italian art generally 
in the fourteenth century. The old themes are re- 
told in a novel way and new subjects added; scenes 
are localized, and figures animated by appropriate 
emotions; in every way the artist now endeavors to 
give an impression of historical actuality to the scrip- 
tural and legendary episodes which his ardent imag- 
ination re-creates.* 

Outside of Italy, a new emotionalism comes in with 
the fourteenth century, and in the second half of 
the century there is a considerable amplification of 
subject matter. In the fifteenth century, religious art 
loses more and more its idealistic character as techni- 
cal processes are perfected, and realism becomes the 


’The resemblances between Italian art of the fourteenth century and 
contemporaneous Byzantine painting, as at Mistra, suggest the probabil- 
ity that the development we have just noted of Italian iconography was 
influenced by Greek example, transmitted through imported works of 
art or through the Greek monasteries established in southern and central 
Italy. It will be recalled that in the last phase of Byzantine art, the 
aristocratic theological school was superseded in popular favor by the 
no less ancient but hitherto obscure monastic school, distinguished by its 
emotional, realistic representation of scriptural episodes as historical 
actualities. 


94 


00 rd LCA Ro 


dominant trait in all the arts. The popularity of the 
mystery plays was a further incentive to the realistic 
presentation of religious themes. Episodes are chosen 
for their own picturesque interest or emotional 
significance, rather than as illustrations of some 
comprehensive scheme of moral and doctrinal in- 
struction. The purpose of art was now to stir the 
emotions rather than to teach. We may still see the 
influence of the old allegorical programs in such works 
of art as popular Bibles composed of woodcut illus- 
trations, or illustrated Books of Hours. On the 
whole, however, religious art had broken with theo- 
logical rule, and, in the vulgarization of its subjects 
through an ever-increasing realistic presentation, 
was approaching the period when, as it has been said, 
“there were still Christian artists but no longer any 
Christian art.” 


oy 


CHAPTER II 
GALLERY F 3 


The material exhibited in this gallery consists prin- 
cipally of thirteenth-century Limoges enamels and of 
French ivory-carvings of the fourteenth century. 

In discussing the twelfth-century enamels exhibit- 
ed in Gallery F 2, it was noted (page 57) that enamel- 
ing in western Europe began to assume important 
proportions as an artistic industry during the twelfth 

century, when the champlevé process superseded the 
earlier cloisonné technique of the Byzantine crafts- 
men. During this period the principal centers of the 
industry were in the regions of the Rhine and of the 
Meuse, and at Limoges! in the south of France. The 
champlevé process consists of fusing the vitreous 
powder or enamel in cavities sunk in the metal ground 
(usually copper or bronze), after which the plaque is 
polished to secure a level surface, and the metal 
gilded—an economical way of securing something of 
the magnificence of the Byzantine enamels on gold. 
Parts of figures—heads and hands—were sometimes 
cast in bronze, gilded, and applied to the enameled 
plaque; in the thirteenth century entire figures pro- 

1There were presumably other localities in France where enamels of 


the Limoges type were produced, and similar work was probably done in 
Spain. 


96 





FIG. $2. CHASSE, CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL 
FRENCH, LIMOGES, ABOUT 1200 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


duced in this way were common. In the earlier 
mediaeval enamels, speaking generally, the gilded 
metal served as the ground upon which the decora- 
tion was worked out in enamel; in the later enamels 
this practice more often is reversed, the ground is 
ornamented with enamel and the figure reserved, 
with inner markings delineated by the graver. The 
latter technique, requiring less effort to produce a 
striking effect, was especially in vogue during the 
thirteenth century in the busy ateliers of Limoges. 
The mediaeval enameler was strictly limited in his 
range of hues and any delicate gradations of color 
were out of the question. On the other hand, his 
colors had a durability and a splendor equaled only in 
mosaics. Moreover, these very limitations served 
to steady the craftsman in keeping to the pure design 
and conventionalized representation essential to an 
art of decoration. That the enamelers of the thir- 
teenth century achieved works of astonishing beauty 
must be evident to all who stand before the cases in 
this room. 

Our notes commence with Case A, to the right of 
the doorway as the visitor enters the room from 
Gallery F 2. Here the most conspicuous object is 
the end-piece of a large shrine, made in the form of a 
gabled house or church. This popular type of reli- 
quary in the Middle Ages is called a chasse. Com- 
plete examples of the type may be seen in two small 
enameled chasses shown in this case; other and finer 
chasses are exhibited in Case F. The end-piece of 
the shrine in Case A is Rhenish work of the thir- 
teenth century; thin sheets of gilded metal have been 
worked in relief, applied to a wooden panel, and 
decorated with enameled plaques and large cabochons 


98 


GALLERY F 3 


of crystal (note that the crystals were used both as 
ornament and as a protection for relics). On this 
background is attached a figure in gilded bronze 
of the Crucified Savior, represented with open eyes 
and uncrossed feet. This early type, which also 
occurs in the two crosses shown in this case, per- 
sisted well into the thirteenth century before it was 
finally superseded by 
the “pathetic” type 
of Christ. 

In the  floor-case 
opposite (B) are sev- 
eral examples of de- 
tached figures in high 
relief or in the round, 
cast in copper or 
bronze and_ gilded, 
representing the Cru- 
cified Christ. A par- 
ticularly fine example 
(fig. 53) 1s the figure 
occupying the central 
position in the case; 
to this, as to certain others in the group, must be con- 
ceded the rank of great sculpture. These bronzes 
are French or German in origin, and date from the 
late twelfth or thirteenth century. With these figures 
we may note in Case B several enameled crucifixes 
and terminal plaques from crosses and a large num- 
ber of separate plaques, generally representing the 
Crucifixion or Christ in Majesty surrounded by 
symbols of the Evangelists, which originally orna- 
mented chasses or book-covers. 

In Case C perhaps the most interesting piece is a 


oo 





FIGW£ 3) CHRIST 
LATE XII CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


portable reliquary in the form of a quatrefoil designed 
to contain, according to the inscription, some of 
the hair of Saint Mary Magdalen. The two angels, 
enameled in white, cobalt, green, and scarlet, are 
especially fine in color and drawing; the back 1s richly 
engraved with foliate scrolls on a chased ground. 
This reliquary is a Rhenish work of the beginning of 
the thirteenth century. Two 
pricket candlesticks and a 
chasse are typical of the use of 
enamel in the ornamentation of 
metalwork. The large panel on 
the back of the case is composed 
of various fragments of enamel, 
combined with cameos and in- 
taglios. A small pyx in the 
shape of a cylindrical box with 
a conical top illustrates a popu- 
lar form of receptacle for the 
consecrated host. The collec- 
tion includes several statuettes 





FIG. 54. in gilt-bronze, enriched with 
ENAMELED CROSS 2 
enamel, representing the en- 
LIMOGES agree: : 
XIII CENTURY throned Virgin holding the 


Christ Child; perhaps the finest 
is the thirteenth-century example shown in this case. 
An unusual piece is the small shrine of painted and 
gilded wood, representing the Virgin and Child, of 
the type known as Vzerge ouvrante. ‘The body of the 
Virgin forms two doors, which when opened disclose 
paintings of Gospel scenes and a carved figure of the 
Savior holding His cross. The piece is a French work 
of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. 

The finest of the enameled crosses in the collection 
100 


GALLERY F 3 


is undoubtedly that in Case D (fig. 54). The figure 
of the Savior, which is enameled on the copper-gilt 
ground instead of applied, 1s drawn with exceptional 
distinction, and the few colors at the craftsman’s 
command are skilfully combined. It 1s regrettable 
that two of the plaques representing the symbols of 
the four Evangelists, which 
completed the arms of the 
cross, are missing. Another 
important example of Limoges 
enamel (Case D) is a large 
plaque, probably from a 
chasse, representing the Cruci- 
fixion (fig. 51); note the use of 
rosettes to decorate the blue 
background. From a frontal, 
formerly in a church at Grand- 
mont, comes a large plaque 
(fig. 55) ornamented with a 
figure in high relief of Saint 
James on an enameled back- 
Pie iudoilame blue. patterned © 9-55. SAINT JAMES 
with floral scrolls. This is a pascirataas, 
particularly notable example 
of the sculptural metalwork which combines so 
happily with the ornamental work of the enamelers. 
In Case E the principal object is not an enamel, but 
a remarkable wood-carving (fig. 56) of the fourteenth 
century, representing the Visitation. These ex- 
quisite statuettes of the Virgin and Saint Elizabeth, 
so beautifully preserved 1n respect to the polychrome 
and gilded decoration, are of exceptional beauty. 
The strip of embroidery above the group is a rare ex- 
ample of English work of the fourteenth century. An 
101 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


unusual piece is the holy-water bucket, decorated in 
enamel with figures of Saint Peter and other saints; 
it is Limoges work of the early thirteenth century. 
Interesting for their form as well as decoration are 
two incense boats, or navettes, so called because the 
shape rather remotely suggests a ship or boat, one 
of the earliest symbols of 
the Churchiis aap, 
pricket candlestick shows a 
somewhat different type from 
the two examples exhibited 
in’ Case -G 

In the floor-case (F) are 
several large chasses of ex- 
ceptional interest, from the 
Limoges ateliers. Exhibited 
on the top shelf is a well- 
known chasse, dating from 
the end of the twelfth or the 
beginning of the thirteenth 
century (fig. 52 eu aigiesean- 
sidered one of the finest of a 
group of about twenty known 
chasses, in the decoration of 
which a characteristic border 
design of half-circles occurs. Another chasse, also 
belonging to this group, is exhibited in the same 
case. Note in these early pieces that the figures are 
enameled on a gilt ground chased with rinceaux, and 
that the relief work is restricted to the heads alone. 
On the bottom shelf is a characteristic example of 
the later work of the second half of the thirteenth 
century, in which the figures are entirely modeled in 
relief and applied to an enameled background. Al- 

102 





FIG. $6. VISITATION 
FRENCH, XIV CENTURY 


GALLERY F 3 


though striking in effect, the work is coarse compared 
with the earlier examples. With these chasses is 
exhibited the celebrated reliquary of Saint Margaret 
known as the chasse aux oiseaux, because little birds 
terminate the various pinnacles and crystal knobs of 
the reliquary (fig. 57). Quite remarkable as sculp- 
ture are the four figures of angels in copper-gilt 





FIG. §7. RELIQUARY 
(CHASSE AUX OISEAUX) 
FRENCH, XIII CENTURY 


supporting the crystal cylinder. The reliquary 1s 
enriched with gems and tiny coats of arms in verre 
eglomisé. Another object of great interest is the 
reliquary of Saint Thomas a Becket in the form of a 
small silver-gilt casket with scenes of the martyrdom 
and burial of the Saint represented in niello (see 
page 56). This reliquary was presumably made be- 
tween 1174 and 1176 for John of Salisbury, to hold 
two vials of the blood of Saint Thomas, which John 
preserved at the time of the martyrdom of the Saint 
103 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


and later presented to the Cathedral of Chartres; the 
workmanship is probably Lotharingian. 

Occupying a case by itself (G) in the middle of the 
room is a large gable-roofed shrine with doors, 
constructed of wood (restored) decorated with plaques 
of champlevé enamel and figures in relief of copper- 
gilt (fig. 50). Inside, the Deposition from the Cross 
is represented on the back of the shrine, and on the 
sides are compositions figuring the Entombment, 
Resurrection, and Ascension. ‘The floor of the shrine 
is ornamented with eight medallions of angels. On 
the inside of the left door are Christ in Limbo, the 
Visit to the Sepulchre, Christ Appearing to Mary 
Magdalen; on the inside of the right door, the Jour- 
ney to Emmaus, the Pilgrims at Emmaus, and the 
Incredulity of Thomas. The subjects on the outside 
of the doors are the Virgin Enthroned and Christ 
with the Symbols of the Four Evangelists. This 
rare shrine or sacrament-house, perhaps used as an 
Easter sepulchre, was dug up in 1896 at Plumejeau 
in the commune of Cherves near Cognac (Charente); 
the wood had rotted away, necessitating restoration, 
but fortunately the enamel had suffered little. Only 
one other piece of the type is known; this is a much 
injured shrine in the treasury at Chartres. 

In Case I are exhibited various enameled plaques 
and figures in relief from chasses and other objects; 
here also are a number of pendants and a morse 
(used for fastening the cope across the breast). <A 
book-cover ornamented with five plaques of enamel 
deserves attention. The style of work produced in the 
fourteenth century, when the champlevé process had 
declined in popularity, is illustrated by a few pieces. 

Case N, against the window wall, contains four 

104 


GALLERY F 3 


beautiful croziers (pastoral staffs carried by bishops 
and abbots) ornamented with champlevé enamel, 
which date from the second half of the thirteenth 
century. Among the subjects represented in the 
volutes are the Annunciation, the Paschal Lamb, and 
Saint Michael in combat with the dragon. Hanging 
with these croziers is a ciborium in the form of a dove 
(symbolizing the Holy Ghost) in which the reserved 
sacrament was kept; it could be raised above the 
altar when not 1n use. 

We come now to the collection of Gothic ivories, 
which occupies five cases in this room and two in the 
adjoining gallery, F 4. In every respect this collec- 
tion is one of the greatest importance. With few 
exceptions the ivories are French in origin and date 
from the fourteenth century. In arranging the col- 
lection it has not proved feasible on the whole to 
group together ivories related in style. Neverthe- 
less, a consideration of these group characteristics 1s 
perhaps our best approach to the subject of the later 
mediaeval ivories. For the present, therefore, we 
will abandon our “‘case-to-case’’ comment on the 
exhibits, and instead discuss briefly the characteris- 
tics of certain popular “‘ateliers” of ivory-carvers in 
the fourteenth century, referring for illustration to 
specific examples in the various cases without re- 
Spect to sequence. 

First of all it may be recalled that the fourteenth 
century was the most productive period of the ivory- 
Garvers, itatlier ivories are exceedingly ‘rare, and 
in the fifteenth century the craft suffered a marked 
decline, owing to a change in taste and possibly to a 
dificulty in securing ivory from Egypt. In the 
fourteenth century France held the leadership in 

IOs 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ivory-carving, and the French ivories, coming for 
the most part from the ateliers of Paris, are greatly 
superior to those produced in Italy, Germany, and 
England. Although the names of several ivory- 
carvers are known, it has been impossible to identify 
their works, and all Gothic ivories are anonymous. 
The industrial conditions under which ivory-carv- 
ings were produced did not encourage individuality. 
A master carver would produce a model, either orig- 
inating the design, or copying or adapting it from 
some other work of art, perhaps a manuscript il- 
lumination. Then, if the model proved successful, 
it would be repeated by his va/ets or assistants, 
with only such changes as the individual taste of a 
patron might require. Ifthe model were particularly 
successful, 1t might be imitated not only in the 
master’s own shop, but in the ateliers of his rivals. 

Lately, an effort has been made? to group related 
ivories and to assign them to ateliers arbitrarily 
named to recall some important object in the group or 
to describe some general characteristic. It must be 
borne in mind, however, with respect to these atelier 
groups, that all the ivories in any one group did not 
necessarily emanate from one workshop; for, as 
we have already seen, artistic copyright was un- 
known and the popular productions of one atelier 
would be copied in others. 

Among the rare French ivories dating from the end 
of the thirteenth century is a small group assigned 
to the “Atelier of the Diptych‘ of the Treasury of 


3R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques frangais, Paris, 1924. Also, by 
the same, earlier articles in the Gazette des Beaux Arts. 


4A celebrated ivory-carving formerly in the Treasury of the Cathedral 
of Soissons, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 


106 


GALLERY F 3 


Soissons.” This atelier apparently originated the 
type of diptych, intended for devotional use, which 
remained popular throughout the Gothic period. 
Two ivory panels, hinged so as to fold one upon the 
other, are carved with Gospel scenes divided into 
horizontal registers. As the carving was protected 
when the leaves were folded over, the diptych form 
had obvious advantages. Stylistically, the produc- 
tions of this late thirteenth-century atelier are charac- 
terized by sobriety in emotional expression, simple 
yet forceful narration, and by a sense of form and 
action which combines the nobility of a monumental 
style with naturalistic observation. Also character- 
istic is the elaborate treatment of the architectural 
framing of the scenes. A typical example (fig. 59), 
in Case K, is the central leaf of a triptych (composed 
of three panels); the missing leaves may have been 
painted, instead of carved, to judge from a similar 
triptych in the museum at Lyons. 

The “Atelier of the Tabernacles of the Virgin” 
flourished particularly in the first half of the four- 
teenth century, although its influence undoubtedly 
continued beyond the middle of the century. The 
craftsmen of this atelier and their imitators special- 
ized in the making of little altarpieces or portable 
shrines in the form of a triptych mounted upon a 
pedestal, now generally missing. Under a trilobate 
arch, surmounted by a gable, is represented the 
Virgin and Child, sometimes attended by angels. 
On the doors, which might consist of two, four, or 
even six leaves, are adoring angels or scenes from the 
life of the Virgin. The popularity of these little 
shrines in honor of Our Lady testifies to the enormous 
development of the cult of the Virgin in the second 

107 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


half of the thirteenth century and in the following 
century. The ivories of this “Atelier of the Taber- 
nacles of the Virgin’ are perhaps the most elegant 
and picturesque of the Gothic period. Several ex- 
-amples of the group are included in the Morgan 
Collection. One of the finest (fig. 61) is the folding 
shrine in Case M, a work of great dignity of style, 
reminiscent of the plastic art of the late thirteenth 
century, when to nobility of form was added a tender, 
human emotion. 

Toward the second half of the fourteenth century 
a new tendency (see page 82) appears in Gothic art. 
Movement is represented more naturalistically, and 
the traditional Gospel scenes are more animated. 
These picturesque qualities characterize the ivories 
produced in the “Atelier of the Diptychs of the 
Passion,” so called because the principal subjects 
carved on the ivories of this group depict the Passion 
of Christ. This atelier, which flourished in the 
middle of the fourteenth century and throughout the 
second half, is represented by several examples in 
the collection. Notable ones are exhibited in Cases 
K (fig. 49), L, and M. 

An important group of fourteenth-century ivories 
is distinguished by the substitution of simple bands 
of rosettes for the elaborate architectural carving 
which occurs on the ivories of the “Atelier of the 
Diptych of the Treasury of Soissons,” and of the 
“Atelier of the Tabernacles of the Virgin.” Apart 
from this simplification of ornament and the adop- 
tion of a severely rectangular shape for the panels, 
both of which made the ivories less liable to injury, 
the ivories of this group of the “Diptychs with 
Rosettes,’ as they are called, present too great di- 

108 





FIG. §8. ATELIER OF FIG 9a eA TELLIER (OF 


THE DIPTYCHS WITH AGshd, JDINP Iva (My “Anens: 
ROSETTES TREASURY OF SOISSONS 
EARLY XIV CENTURY END OF XIII CENTURY 








FIGs 60. .ATELIER OF THE FIG. 61. ATELIER OF THE TAB- 
DIPTYCHS WITH ERNACLES OF THE VIRGIN 
ROSETTES FIRST HALF OF THE 
EARLY XIV CENTURY XIV CENTURY 


FRENCH IVORY-CARVINGS 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


versities in style to make it probable that they come 
from one atelier. One group is characterized by a 
gracious, amiable style, recalling that of the taber- 
nacles of the Virgin, and by a fondness for picturesque 
genre scenes of Gospel history. Examples (fig. 58) 
of this group may be seen in Cases Land M. A sec- 
ond group is more dramatic in feeling, and selects for 
representation the most tragic moments in the Pas- 
sion of the Savior; a typical ivory (fig. 60) of this | 
group 1s shown in Case K. 

A type of ivory-carving popular in the. late four- 
teenth and the fifteenth century is exemplified by two 
groups of figures in high relief without background, ex- 
hibitedin Case J. These carvings, which represent 1n 
one instance a group of three men, and in the other 
the Virgin supported by the two Marys, probably 
come from the same altarpiece and formed part of a 
Crucifixion scene. In the same case is also an elab- 
orately carved fragment from the mounting of a 
saddle, representing a knight on horseback, which is 
believed to have been made for Don Jayme II, King 
of Majorca (1324-1349). Attention may also be 
called to the ivory crozier heads and the thirteenth- 
century chessman in Case J, and to the ivory plaque 
on the book-cover in Case K. 

An ivory pyx in Case H is particularly interesting 
from the point of view of iconography, since among 
the scenes of the infancy of Christ which decorate the 
pyx is included the unusual subject of the collapse 
of the idol at the approach of the Christ Child during 
the flight into Egypt. The four large caskets in this 
case are superb examples of secular ivory-carvings. 
The subjects are selected from popular romances of 
the time. One casket, for example, has on the cover 

110 


GARLERY  Fe3 


the assault upon the castle of love, a jousting scene, 
and an elopement, On the front are scenes from the 
legend of the philosopher Aristotle and the fair 
Campaspe, and an interesting representation of the 
fountain of youth, with aged men and women ap- 
proaching the basin where youths and maidens dis- 
port themselves in the magic water. On the back 
panel is the combat between Lancelot and the phan- 
tom lion, Lancelot crossing the sword bridge, Ga- 





FIG. 62. IVORY CASKET 
FRENCH, XIV. CENTURY 


wain (?) asleep on the magic bed, and the maidens 
welcoming their deliverer. At one end is a knight res- 
cuing a lady from a savage, and Galahad receiving 
the key of the Castle o Maidens; the other represents 
Tristan and Isolde spied upon by King Mark, and a 
hunter spearing a unicorn, symbol of chastity, which 
has taken refuge at the feet of aseated maiden. This 
well-known casket dates from the first half of the 
fourteenth century. Another important casket (fig. 
62) is ornamented with carvings illustrating the 
romance of the Chatelaine de Vergi; the story may be 
followed from the detailed description on the label. 
The scenes on another represent lovers picking flow- 
111 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ers, hawking on horseback, making garlands, and 
similar genre subjects.° 

Against the window wall is a large rectangular 
panel composed of many small pieces of carved 
hippopotamus bone. This is not an altarpiece, as 
it might at first appear; the carvings, which were 
mounted in this form early in the nineteenth century, 
originally formed the decoration of two large caskets. 
These caskets were made by Baldassare degli Em- 
briachi (see page g1) between the years 1400 and 
1409 for the prior of the famous convent of the Cer- 
tosa at Pavia, and were used by the Visconti of Milan, 
when these noblemen sojourned in the guest house of 
the monastery. The caskets, which are among the 
few known works by Baldassare,° the head of the fam- 
ily of carvers who specialized in work of this kind, 
remained in the Certosa until 1782, when they passed 
out of the possession of the monastery. In 1805 the 
pieces were arranged in their present order, with the 
idea that the panel, thus composed, should be pre- 
sented to the Empress Josephine as a present from 
the city of Milan. This plan, however, fell through, 
and the panel remained in private possession until 
purchased by Mr. Morgan. The carvings depict 
scenes from several popular tales, notably stories 
of the Golden Eagle and of Mattabruna. 

The mediaeval ivory-carver did not confine him- 
self to relief carving alone; on the contrary, perhaps 
his finest work is to be seen in the statuettes, usually 
representing the Virgin and Child, of which a notable 


‘Three panels from similar caskets may be seen in Case C in the ad- 
joining gallery, F 4. 

6In Gallery F 4 is another important example of the work of Baldas- 
sare, a large altarpiece with scenes from the life of Christ, Saint John 
the Baptist, and Saint John the Evangelist. 


112 


GALLERY F 3 


group of twenty examples is included in the Morgan 
Collection. Dating from the end of the thirteenth 
century or possibly the beginning of the four- 
teenth are two beautiful statuettes (Case M) which 
represent Our Lady enthroned, holding the Christ 
Child (fig. 63). One may note in the playful attitude 
ofthe Child and the tender ex- 
pression on the Mother’s face 
the trend toward a more worldly 
interpretation of this familiar 
theme, which distinguishes these 
statuettes from the two Roman- 
esque wood-carvings of the same 
subject, noted in-our description 
of Gallery F 2. In the earlier 
examples, the Virgin is repre- 
sented in hieratic dignity as the 
Empress of Heaven; in the ivo- 
ries, the Virgin is still a very 
great lady, but permits herself to 
smile as the Child reaches up His 
little hand to fondle His moth- 
ers face; 

The majority of the statuettes 





FIG. 63. IVORY 


Sead: UE ans 
date from the fourteenth cen- eee 
tury. The earlier ones retain ABOUT 1300 


much of the monumental style of 

the earlier period, although imbued with a more 
tender sentiment; but in others we note that this 
dignified if humanized conception of the Virgin 
and Child degenerates into a pretty domesticity 
which is characteristic of the later Gothic versions 
of this theme. The drapery folds lose their logic; 
excessive crumpling becomes a mannerism; there 

113 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


is also a tendency to exaggerate the bend of the 
figure at the hips. An unusual statuette in Case 
L illustrates the realistic trend of Gothic art in the 
late fourteenth century. The Virgin is seated and 
holds on her lap a cradle, from which she has lifted 
to her breast the young Child wrapped in swaddling 
clothes. This is a piece of pure genre sculpture, 
marking a considerable departure from the idealistic 
art of the early Gothic period. 

In connection with these ivories, attention may be 
called to a statuette of the Virgin and Child, carved 
in wood and painted, which is shown between Cases 
Land M (fig. 44). This exquisite piece of miniature 
sculpture of the late thirteenth century is a master- 
piece of the highest order. Although the style 1s 
monumental, the statuette is characterized by a 
feminine, aristocratic grace of exceptional charm. 

On the walls hang four early Gothic tapestries; a 
fifth piece of the set is shown in the adjoining gallery, 
F 4. These tapestries are parts of one large hanging 
(fig. 64) originally divided into two horizontal reg- 
isters of seven scenes each, representing in the lower 
row the seven Christian sacraments as celebrated in 
the fifteenth century, and, in the upper row, their 
Old Testament types. Of the seven scenes figured in 
the Museum’s tapestries, three illustrate the sacra- 
ments of Baptism, Matrimony, and Extreme Unc- 
tion; the four Old Testament types are the cleansing 
of Naaman the Syrian in the Jordan (Baptism), God 
the Father joining the hands of Adam and Eve 
(Matrimony), Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manas- 
seh, Joseph standing at the left (Confirmation), and 
the Sacring of David in Hebron (Extreme Unction). 
The two rows were separated by descriptive French 


II4 


GALLERY F713 


verses in Gothic letters, and the scenes were framed 
by columns and brickwork. The cartoons are re- 
lated in style to the work of Robert Campin, and the 
tapestry was probably woven by Pasquier Grenier at 
Tournai about 1440. It may be the tapestry -ac- 
quired about 1440 by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, at 
Bruges, the great tapestry market of the time. It is 


% 
ak 7 é 
34 Oe 
4 
* 


YY 





FIG.64. ADAM AND EVE; THE SACRING OF DAVID IN HEBRON 
TAPESTRY, TOURNAI, ABOUT 1440 


said to have belonged to Ferdinand and Isabella, and 
to have hung in the royal chapel at Granada. In 
beauty of color and in vigor of design, the tapestry is 
a splendid illustration of Gothic weaving at its finest. 

With regard to the sculpture exhibited in this room, 
the visitor may note near the entrance to Gallery F 2 
an interesting French wood sculpture of the early 
fifteenth century, representing Saint George and the 
Dragon. Between Cases A and C is a striking piece 
of late thirteenth-century stone sculpture, the head 
from a statue of Christ. Two large marble statuettes 
representing the Virgin and Child stand between the 


116 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


cases on the wall opposite the windows (fig. 65). 
They are characteristic examples of the fully devel- 
oped fourteenth-century style, a little weak per- 
haps, but charming in their grace and delicate re- 








FIG. 65. VIRGIN 
FRENCH, XIV CENTURY 





finement. An earlier work, dat- 
ing from the first years of the 
fourteenth century and still rem- 
iniscent of the more noble 
style of the early Gothic period, 
is a large statue in polychrome 
wood, representing the Virgin 
enthroned with the Christ Child. 
This statue has been placed in- 
tentionally in a corner, where it 
receives a rather dim light. It 
should be remembered that sta- 
tues of this kind were intended 
to be seen in poorly illuminated 
interiors, and that much of their 
mystery is lost when brought 
out into a flood of light. 

The stained glass in the win- 
dows of this gallery does not 
form part of the Morgan Col- 
lection. In the middle window 
is a large lancet-shaped panel, 
representing the Prophet Abiud. 


The window, which probably comes from the clere- 
story of some large church, is a superb example of 
French glass of the twelfth century. Four thirteenth- 
century quatrefoils, displayed in the other two 
windows, represent the Paschal Lamb, the Coronation 
of the Virgin, the Virgin enthroned, and Saint Peter 


and Saint Paul. 


116 


CRARILER IIT 
GAULERY Ff 4 


The collection of Gothic ivories, part of which was 
described in the previous chapter, is continued in 
Cases C and H. Among these ivories are many fine 
examples of the atelier groups discussed on pages 106 
to 110; the “Atelier of the Diptychs of the Pas- 
sion” 1s particularly well represented (fig. 49). In 
Case C, attention may be called to several plaques 
with secular themes, which originally formed parts of 
caskets similar to those exhibited in Gallery F 3 (see 
page 110). Also secular in subject are the carvings 
on mirror-cases, representing lovers conversing or 
hunting with falcons. 

Ivory-carvings were usually, if not invariably, em- 
bellished with painting and gilding of which, as a 
rule, but few traces now remain. Another method of 
heightening the effect, which could be combined with 
polychrome enrichment, was the piercing of the ivory 
so that the figures and their architectural framework 
were silhouetted against a background of some other 
substance. Excellent examples of these pierced 
ivories are shown in Case C. Especially remarkable 
is the large diptych with many little scenes from the 
Passion of Christ and the history of the Virgin (figs. 
66, 67). Ona larger scale, but similar in style, 1s a dip- 


cy, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


tych with the Crucifixion and Entombment. Opinion. 
has varied widely as to the country in which these 
two ivories were made. It seems not improbable 
from comparison with English miniature paintings 
that these diptychs are English work of the early 





FIG. 66. LEAF OF IVORY DIPTYCH 
PROBABLY ENGLISH, XV CENTURY 


fifteenth century. The technique, however, was also 
practised on the Continent, although nowhere ex- 
tensively, owing to the decline in popularity of ivory- 
carving in the fifteenth century and perhaps to the 
difficulty of the work. Undoubtedly English is a 
plaque representing the Crucifixion, a work of the 
fifteenth century. 
118 


GALLERY F 4 


The few Italian ivory-carvings in Case C need not 
detain us, but the large altarpiece, with scenes from 
the life of Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint 
John the Evangelist, which stands on a richly carved 
Gothic chest between Cases F and I, is a piece 





FIG. 67. LEAF OF IVORY DIPTYCH 
PROBABLY ENGLISH, XV CENTURY 


of distinct importance. This altarpiece, like the 
Certosa caskets in Gallery F 3 (see page 112), 1s 
the work of Baldassare degli Embriachi, who es- 
tablished a flourishing workshop at Venice for the 
production of his caskets, mirror-frames, retables, 
and other objects ornamented with plaques of carved 
bone. Much of the work produced in this busy shop 


119 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


has little artistic value, but the superior examples, 
such as our altarpiece, are highly effective pieces of 
decoration. 

The wall-cases on the right, as we face the altar- 
plece, contain many splendid examples of Gothic 
metalwork, In Cases: ee 
statuette in silver parcel-gilt 
of Saint Christopher bearing 
the Christ Child on his shoul- 
der affords an excellent illus- 
tration of the fifteenth-cen- 
tury French craftsman’s skill 
in metal (fig. 68). The figure, 
which served as a reliquary, 
was formerly in the Church 
of Castelnaudry, near Tou- 
louse, in the south of France. 
Representations of Saint 
Christopher, the patron saint 
of travelers, are frequent in 
mediaeval art. It was be 
lieved that all who beheld his 

reer ie image, putting their trust in 

FRENCH, xv century God, would escape the disas- 

. ters of earthquake, tempest, 
or fire. The legend of Saint Christopher is one of the 
most picturesque in mediaeval hagiology. The giant 
Christopher, or Offero as he was first called, resolved 
to serve none but the greatest of kings. Disappoint- 
ed in temporal sovereigns and in the service of the 
devil, Offero sought the way to Christ. In prepara- 
tion, he was instructed by a hermit to live near a 
certain river and to carry all those who should 
need him across the stream. One night a little child 

120 





FIG. 68. 


GALLERY F 4 


begged to be taken over, and Offero mounted him on 
his shoulder. The winds blew and the torrent raged 
so fiercely and the weight of the child grew so un- 
bearable that the giant reached the opposite shore 
only through the greatest perseverance. It was the 
Maker of the World whom 
Offero had carried on_ his 
shoulder. When they 
reached the opposite shore 
the Child revealed Himself, 
and.accepted in His service 
the saint, who thereafter 
changed his name to Chris- 
topher, which means the 
Christ-bearer. — 

Other exhibits in Case F 
include a silver statuette 
of the Virgin and Child, 
characteristic of the some- 
what florid Spanish metal- 
work of the late fifteenth 
Sentry wot eedbout the 
same date is a French “aie, (6. WANN: 
wrought-iron lock in trip- SPANISH, XVI CENTURY 
tych form, decorated with 
scenes of the Last Judgment and small panels of 
openwork decoration. Technically this piece is an 
astonishing example of skill in the manipulation of 
iron, but the metal is hardly suitable for work of 
this character. A large silver-gilt reliquary (fig. 69) 
is a typical Spanish work of the early sixteenth cen- 
tury. The piece is most elaborately ornamented, but 
the discrepancy in scale between the decoration on 
the foot and the architectural detail of the box hold- 

121 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ing the relic is not altogether pleasing; nevertheless, 
the proportions of the piece are so agreeable that the 
general impression is strikingly beautiful. Simpler 
in decoration but finely designed are two silver cen- 
sers of architectural form, French in origin, and 
dating from the late fifteenth century. 

The crisp exuberance of German Gothic ornament 
finds an admirable illustration in the copper-gilt 
censer exhibited in Case B. In ecclesiastical metal- 
work the Renaissance style was slow in superseding 
the traditional Gothic forms—even in Italy where 
the new style had its origin. Still Gothic in design 
is a fifteenth-century Italian monstrance of copper- 
gilt, ornamented with plaques of translucent enamel. 
One would hardly suspect from the pointed arch and 
other Gothic characteristics of this piece that in 
other branches of Italian art the new style was al- 
ready clearly manifested. Thoroughly Renaissance, 
however, 1n its form and ornament is a second Italian 
monstrance, dated 1563, which is exhibited in the 
same case. A large processional cross is interesting 
for its plaques of translucent enamel, a favorite 
method of ornamentation in Italy during the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries; other crosses of similar 
character are shown in Case D. Unusual in tech- 
nique is a triptych composed of relief work in silver 
applied to a background of gilded metal with designs 
engraved in stipple. With “these andisetaemec.= 
amples of metalwork is shown a French fifteenth- 
century miniature painting on parchment, depicting 
the countries and principal cities connected with the 
crusades of Saint Louis, who was in Egypt and Pales- 
tine from 1248 to 1254. 

Stopping for a moment to note, between Cases B 

122 


GALLERY F 4 


and A, a fine French wood-carving of the fourteenth 
century, representing the Virgin and Child, we pass 
on to Case A, where the exhibition of Gothic metal- 
work is continued. One of the rarest of the many 
extraordinary pieces in this case is a large reliquary 
head of a saint, wrought in silver-gilt and ornamented 
with filigree work and crystal cabochons (fig. 70). 
The workmanship ts French and 
probably of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, although the rather prim- 
itive character of the modeling 
suggests a somewhat earlier 
date. When a reliquary was 
made to contain some part of 
the body of a saint, such as the 
skull or bones from the hand or 
arm, the receptacle was often 
shaped in the semblance of the 
relic itself. Two reliquaries of 
this type flank the head just ER ete 
described. Another type of rel- RELIOUARY HEAD 
iquary is the phylactery, which 

was of a size and shape to permit the reliquary to be 
worn on the person. An interesting fifteenth-century 
example of this type, quatrefoil in shape, is decorated 
with enamels which form a setting for a small Byzan- 
tine ivory plaque of early date. Another reliquary 
of the monstrance type (fig. 43) deserves attention, as 
does also a tiny cylindrical shrine with doors opening 
to reveal a little statuette of the Virgin and Child. 
How effectively color enriches the gleam of metal is 
shown in a crozier head, richly ornamented with 
encrusted enamels; it is presumably Hungarian and 


is dated 1457. 





123 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Of the five crosses exhibited in Case D, the most 
important is a processional cross, ornamented on 
both sides with plaques representing the Crucifixion 
and scenes of the Passion, executed in niello on silver. 
This fifteenth-century cross, which was made for a 
convent of the Franciscan order of the Poor Clares, 
is one of the finest examples known of niello (see 
page 56), a form of decoration highly perfected by 
the Italian Renaissance goldsmiths. Our cross is 
probably a north Italian work, but in design and 
skilful execution it is comparable to the finest Flor- 
entine productions, such as the famous pax by 
Finiguerra. Another cross ornamented with niello 
plaques is particularly interesting on account of the 
inscription, which relates that the piece was made for 
the Company of the Pork Butchers in honor of the 
blessed Maria di Plano. Although at first thought 
the connection between pork butchers and this beau- 
tiful object 1s somewhat startling, it reminds us that 
the mediaeval and Renaissance guilds were lavish pa- 
trons of the arts. 

Silver plaques carved in low relief and covered with 
translucent enamel were frequently used by the 
Italian goldsmiths of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries, especially in Tuscany, to decorate crosses 
and other liturgical objects. Two large crosses with 
translucent enamels are shown in Case D; a third 
piece has already been noted™in s@ase meee 
modeling of the surface beneath the film of translu- 
cent enamel gives a brilliancy of color and a play of 
light that are most attractive, but unhappily the 
enamel is apt to chip off, as may be seen in several 
examples in the collection. 

This kind of enameling was not confined to Italy 


124 


GALLERY F 4 


alone, and several pieces of translucent enamel— 
note particularly an exquisite little diptych with its 
original leather case—of Flemish, French, or German 
origin are included with the Italian plaques exhibited 
in Case E. Among the latter are thirty-six small 
medallions of silver-gilt, repoussé with a vine pattern 
and ornamented with small profile heads in translu- 
cent enamel, which were 
used as costume acces- 
sories. Of great rarity 
is an Italian girdle of 
the late fourteenth cen- 
tury, nearly five feet in 
length, decorated with 
silver-gilt ornaments 
and plaques of translu- 
eeanteenamel..) Lhe 
plaques from another 
belt combine filigree and 

‘ FIG. 71. PAINTED ENAMEL 
cloisonné enamel; the LIMOGES: MONVAERNI 
workmanship is Hispa- 
no-Moresque of the fifteenth century Other pre- 
cious objects which served as costume accessories, 
such as hat ornaments, rings, pendants, rosary beads, 
and pomanders for scent, are exhibited in Cases E 
and G. 

In the second half of the fifteenth century, the 
technique of painted enamel began to replace the 
earlier processes and soon enjoyed a great popularity. 
The colored enamel, translucent or opaque, was no 
longer contained by cloisons or channels or modeled 
surfaces, but applied directly to the smooth metal 
plaque. Whether this technique was first developed 
in Italy or in France is still a question, but it was 

126 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


speedily carried to the point of perfection in France, 
and the finest painted enamels of the sixteenth cen- 
tury come from the ateliers of Limoges. Six narrow 
panels, representing Apostles, in Case E, are splendid 
examples of the rare Italian painted enamels of the 
late fifteenth century. Far more brilliant in effect 
is a large enameled plaque in the 
same case, representing the Cruci- 
fixion. This magnificent piece, 
with its’ charactertstic seman 
scheme of blue, white, green, and 
reddish violet, is a Limoges work 
of the end of the fifteenth century. 
In style it belongs to the group 
of enamels attributed to the so- 
called “ Monvaerni”’ (fig. 71). 
Another kind of enameling, pop- 
ular in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries, consists of coating or 
crusting with enamel the surfaces 
of small metal objects, usually of 





FIG. 92: 


SAINT CATHERINE 4 2 
reece gold, wrought in the round or in 


XV CENTURY fairly high relief. Such work is 
known as encrusted enamel. The 


term is also used to describe enamel in combina- 
tion with filigree work, but this is in reality a form 
of cloisonné enamel. Of the true encrusted enamel 
several remarkable specimens are shown in Case E. 
One is a gold medallion, probably a hat ornament, 
representing Saint John the Baptist in the wilder- 
ness. According to tradition this medallion belonged 
to Cosimo de’ Medici and was made by Ghiberti. 
Although the ascription to Ghiberti is less credible 
than the association of this beautiful jewel with 
126 


GALLERY F 4 


Cosimo, nevertheless the medallion is a marvelous 
example of Florentine goldsmiths’ work of the fif- 
teenth century. Another medallion, with the enamel 
better preserved, represents the Entombment. 

Other examples of exquisite work in gold and ivory 
are shown in Case G. Probably Franco-Flemish in 
origin and dating from the first 
half of the fifteenth century is 
a pendant of minutely carved 
ivory, painted and gilded, rep- 
resenting the Last Judgment. 
An oval reliquary, representing 
on one side the Virgin enthron- 
ed, and on the other, God 
the Father with various saints, 
is an especially fine example of 
these little ivory-carvings which 
show an almost miraculous skill 
of hand in the delicacy of the 
execution. Another remark- 
able piece is in the form of a ro- 
sary bead which, when opened, FIG. 73. FLAGON 
discloses ivory-carvings of the a EN 

4 3 XIV—-XV CENTURY 
Crucifixion and the Resurrec- 
tion. An ingeniously constructed pendant in silver- 
gilt opens in three parts, each containing a niche in 
which is a small figure of a saint. But perhaps the 
most extraordinary of these objects in ivory and metal 
is a small half-figure in wrought gold, encrusted with 
enamel and enriched with gems, representing Saint 
Catherine of Alexandria (fig. 72). This little master- 
piece, which once formed the center of a pax belong- 
ing to a convent in Clermont-Ferrand, is a marvelous 
example of French goldsmiths’ work in the early 
127 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


fifteenth century. Of the larger pieces in this case 
one of the most beautiful is a fagon of agatized wood, 
with German silver-gilt mounts of the late fourteenth 
or early fifteenth century (fig. 73). The piece was 
formerly in the treasury of the church of Reinkenha- 
gen (Pomerania) and belongs to a small group of simi- 
lar vessels which, according to the pious belief of the 
Middle Ages, were used by Our Lord in the miracle at 
Cana. Of the two remarkable chalices in this case, 
perhaps the most interesting is the fifteenth-century 
Hungarian piece ornamented with filigree encrusted 
with enamel, which was made for a certain Dom 
John Benedict of Breslau. A large reliquary, 
combining crystal, verre eglomisé (gilt glass), and 
silver-gilt, is a distinguished example of Italian 
ecclesiastical metalwork in the second half of the 
fifteenth century. Two large drinking-horns, of 
fifteenth-century German origin, are beautifully 
mounted in silver. Especially fine is the horn with 
a figure of Saint Michael overcoming the dragon 
(fig. 74). This piece has the arms of Brandenburg; 
the other, of the Counts of Wolkenstein-Eberstein. 

Another type of drinking-vessel, the mazer, is 
illustrated in Case I by two standing cups with cov- 
ers. A mazer is a special type of drinking-vessel, 
properly made of maplewood. ‘Only one of our cov- 
ered cups is of maplewood; the other is of jasper; 
both are richly mounted in silver-gilt, and are Ger- 
man works of the sixteenth century. For the most 
part, the exhibits in this case are miniature carvings 
in wood. With these delightful little specimens of 
wood-carving, a branch of Gothic art which we shall 
discuss at some length in Chapter V, is shown a small 
marble relief of the Dormition of the Virgin. 

128 


GALLERY F 4 


Cases J and K contain small sculptures in stone or 
marble. The central figure in Case J is an exquisite 
statuette representing the Virgin seated in an atti- 
tude of modest resignation, which suggests that this 
figure formed part of a group of the Annunciation. 
The three kneeling figures of marble in the same case 
presumably formed part of the decoration of a tomb, 
and represent Charles V of France, his consort, 
Jeanne de Bourbon, 
and the Dauphin 
(Charles VI); they are 
well-known examples! 
of French sculpture 
at the end of the four- 
teenth century. The 
success of the realistic 
pleurants or mourning 
figures on the tombs of 
the Dukes of Burgun- 
dy, Philippe le Hardi, 
and Jean sans Peur, led FIG. 74. DRINKING-HORN 

: : : GERMAN, XV CENTURY 
to imitation. Two stat- 
uettes (in Case J) of mourners with heads shrouded 
in cowls and bodies covered by voluminous mantles of 
a coarse fabric, which produces the heavy, broken 
folds so skilfully rendered by the realistic sculptors 
of the Burgundian school, come in all probability 
from the tomb (completed about 1453) of Jean 
Duke of Berri at Bourges, and, if this is so, are the 
work of Etienne Bobillet and Paul de Mosselman, 
who were commissioned in 1450 to finish the monu- 
ment (fig. 45). Another of these mourners, but 
from a different and clumsier hand, is exhibited in 





1Rormerly in the Le Breton Collection. 
129 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 
e 


Case K. Perhaps the most striking sculpture in 
this case is a graceful little figure of Saint Barbara 
standing beside her tower, a characteristic late 
Gothic work of the school of Troyes in the early six- 
teenth century. 

The stained glass in the windows? brings a pleasant 
note of color into the room, but is not of exceptional 
quality, although the two standing figures of saints 
are quite good of their kind. Attached to the door- 
jambs are three fragments from a choir-stall of carved 
walnut, of about the middle of the fourteenth cen- 
tury (fig. 40). Analogies between the carvings on 
these fragments and certain English ivories, espe- 
cially with respect to the type of head with high fore- 
head, suggest an English origin for the choir-stall. 
The sculptures against the window wall include some 
interesting fifteenth-century Spanish decorative carv- 
ings with coats of arms. The most important sculp- 
ture in the gallery, although it has suffered consider- 
able injury, is a limestone statue of about half life- 
size, representing Saint Michael in combat with the 
dragon (fig. 46). This attractive figure, about 1475 
in date, exemplifies the tranquil beauty and refine- 
ment which characterize the school of the Loire. 

The three large tapestries are fragments of a hang- 
ing (fig. 42) made presumably for Charles VII 
of France. They represent courtiers in the luxurious 
costume of the early fifteenth century gathering 
roses. The background 1s striped green, white, and 
red, the colors of Charles VII whose emblem was the 
rose. A similar tapestry with roses and the arms of 
France, on a striped background of green, white, and 
red, is depicted by Fouquet in a miniature painting 

?Not part of the Morgan Collection. 

130 


GALLERY F 4 


representing the trial of the Duc d’Alencon in 1458. 
It is probable that the Museum’s tapestry was woven 
about 1435 (or shortly after) at Arras (see page 89), 
when a treaty of peace was signed in this city between 
Charles VII and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. 
The cartoons are obviously the work of a distin- 
guished artist, and not without reason the name of 
Jean Fouquet, the celebrated miniaturist, is some- 
times associated with these extraordinarily beautiful 
tapestries. The small tapestry on the window wall 
belongs to the set of the sacraments, described in 
the preceding chapter. 


131 


CHAPTE Lei 
GALLERY (Fag 


THE SCULPTURES FROM THE CHATEAU OF BIRON 


In 1495, Baron Pons de Gontaut, Seigneur of 
Biron, who had accompanied Charles VIII on the 
French expedition into Italy, obtained permission 
from the pope to found a private chapel, dedicated 
to Notre Dame de Pitié, in the Chateau of Biron in 
southwestern France between Perigueux and Agen. 
On his return, Pons constructed a double church. 
The lower served as a parish church; the upper was 
the private and funerary chapel of the family. Al- 
though the chapel was not dedicated until 1524, the 
year of Pons’s death, its decoration was commenced 
many years earlier. In a shallow niche behind the 
high altar was a sculptured limestone group of the 
Pieta, which dates from about 1500; the figures are 
life-size. The sculptures of the Entombment, placed 
in a side chapel, are some ten or fifteen years later in 
date; the material is again limestone but the figures 
are somewhat under life-size. The tombs of Pons de 
Gontaut and his brother Armand de Gontaut, also 
in the upper church, show clearly the Italianizing 
tendency already apparent in the Entombment, and 
are slightly later still in date. In style the sculptures 
are related to the productions of the school of the 

132 





THE ENTOMBMENT 


FROM THE CHAPEL OF THE CHATEAU 


FIG 


wn 


OF BIRON 


ABOUT IS10-I5 


’ 


FRENCH 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Loire and of its chief sculptor, Michel Colombe, 
whose tranquil, polished art, with its idealizing trend 
and restrained realism, best exemplifies the détente, 
or relaxation, which characterized the reaction at 
the close of the fifteenth century to the excessive 
realistic preoccupations of the earlier years. 

The Pietaé and Entombment groups from the 
Chateau of Biron may undoubtedly be classed 
among the masterpieces of late Gothic sculpture. 
It is therefore fitting that all else in the gallery where 
they are exhibited should be subordinated to them. 
Stained-glass windows soften the light, and some- 
times, in late afternoon, cast a mosaic of faint hues 
on the walls. A canopied seat, a high-backed chair, 
and a few single pieces of sculpture complete the 
installation; but naturally it is the Biron monu- 
ments which first of all claim the visitor’s attention. 

Opposite the entrance 1s the Entombment (fig. 75), 
which is assigned to about 1510-15. Nicodemus 
and Joseph of Arimathea hold over the open sepul- 
chre the body of Christ. Behind this group stands 
the Virgin Mary, tenderly supported by two holy 
women, Mary the wife of Alpheus, and Mary 
the wife of Zebedee; at the right is Saint Mary 
Magdalen, and opposite her Saint John the Evange- 
list. Above, fastened to the wall of the niche, are 
five tiny angels dressed in long, fluttering gowns. 
The reliefs on the sepulchre represent Abraham’s 
Sacrifice and the Casting up of Jonah, types of the 
Sacrifice of Christ and of His Resurrection. The 
niche is. a reproduction in plaster, but the great 
frame of carved wood, once fitted with doors, is 
original, and shows strong Italianate tendencies in 
the graceful arabesques of the carving. The frame 


134 


GALLERY F 5 


may have been done by Italian artists, working as at 
Solesmes and elsewhere under the direction of a 
French master-sculptor. Considerable portions of 
color remaining indicate that both the frame and the 
stone sculptures were originally painted and gilded. 

The disposition of the figures in this group is 
traditional and follows a formula created in the first 





FIG. 76. THE BIRON PIETA 
FRENCH, ABOUT 1500 


half of the fifteenth century. The theme enjoyed 
considerable popularity in the second half of the 
century, as several important monuments bear wit- 
ness. The earliest existing of these sculptured 
groups of the Entombment, in which may be seen 
the influence of mystery plays, is at Tonnerre (1453). 
The culminating point in the development of the 
type was reached in the Entombment at Solesmes 
(1496) which is near in style to the Biron group. The 
desire for grace “ad /a mode d’Ytallie,” which in the 
late years of the Gothic period characterized the 
development of French sculpture, is shown in the 
calm and pondered sentiment of the Biron Entomb- 
ment. Unlike the early treatments of the theme, 


33 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


there is no wild abandonment to grief or other emo- 
tional excesses which would ill accord with the new 
ideal of harmonious, disciplined beauty. 

When we turn to the Pieta group (fig. 76) executed 
ten years or so earlier, the rea- 
listic, dramatic qualities which 
prevailed, generally speaking, in 
French Gothic sculpture of the 
fifteenth century are more in 
evidence. ‘The earlier tradition 
is still active in the representa- 
tion of the dead Christ, of the 
sorrowing Mother shrouded in 
the heavy folds of her mantle, 
and in the carefully studied 
portrait-figures of Pons de Gon- 
taut, kneeling at the feet of 
Christ, and of his brother op- 
posite him, Armand de Gontaut, 
Bishop of Sarlat. But that a 
change has come about is appar- 
ent in the quiet, restful lines of 
the balanced composition, which 
: reveal the transitional character 

FIG. 77. VIRGIN of the work. 

Ke The subject of the Pieta is 

CRUCIFIXION GROUP maine ° 

FRENCED Ay CEN ORea ae rarely treated in thirteenth- 

and fourteenth-century French 
sculpture. In the fifteenth century, however, this 
theme with its extraordinary dramatic possibilities 
was welcomed by the sculptors of the new realistic 
movement, initiated by Claus Sluter in the first 
years of the century. Even in so late a work as the 
Biron Pieta, Sluter’s influence is felt in the harsh 

136 





GALLERY F 5 


realism of the dead Christ and still more in the mas- 
sive folds of the Virgin’s mantle. 

The life-size stone statue (fig. 78) of the Virgin and 
Child, at the left of the Entombment, is an important 
example of the school of Tour- 
aine about 1480-90. Another 
and somewhat earlier sculpture 
of the Loire school is the statue 
in walnut of the Mourning Vir- 
gin (fig. 77) beside the east door 
of the gallery. A companion 
figure representing Saint John 
the Evangelist is in the Louvre. 
Both figures, undoubtedly from 
a Crucifixion group, were orig- 
inally in the Abbey of Bauge- 
rais and later in the nearby 
church of Loché-sur-Indrois. 
These notable examples of 
French wood-carving may be 
dated approximately in the 
third quarter of the fifteenth 
century. The realistic intention 
is obvious, and to be expected; es 
but there is in these figures a FIG. 78. VIRGIN 
dignity, a gracious quality an- SCHOOL OF TOURAINE 
ticipating the calm of the BS ey enon aay 

eae ; 1480-90 

détente, which is typical of sculp- 

ture in the region of the Loire and contrasts with the 
“expressive violence” of Burgundian sculpture in the 
same period. 

_A third statue to be noted is a work of the school 
of Troyes, about 1510-15. This limestone statue, 
with its painting and gilding well preserved, repre- 

137 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


sents Saint Savina, a mediaeval “Evangeline” who 
was particularly venerated at Troyes where she 
died upon learning of the martyrdom there of Savin- 
ian, her brother, for whom she had long sought in 
many lands. The prosperity of Troyes at the end 
of the fifteenth and in the first half of the sixteenth 
century fostered the development of a flourishing 
school of sculpture, which gradually diluted late 
Gothic realism with affectations and prettiness until, 
about the middle of the sixteenth century, the style 
was submerged in Italianism. The school of Troyes 
at its best—as for example in the Saint Martha of 
the Church of the Magdalen at Troyes—combines 
a somewhat mannered elegance of style, conspicuous 
in the rendering of drapery and in the general con- 
ception of the subject, with types of feminine beau- 
ty of seductive charm. Of this early sculpture of 
Troyes, still respectful of the Gothic tradition, the 
winsome Saint Savina of the Morgan Collection is an 
attractive example. 


138 


CHAPTER V 
GALLERY F 6 


On the right, as one enters from Gallery F 4, is a 
large oak chest, a French work of the second half of 
the fifteenth century, notable for the beauty of its 
carved decoration of ogival arches with elaborate 
tracery in the style of the flamboyant architecture of 
the period. Throughout the Middle Ages furniture 
was never plentiful, even in the homes of the nobles 
or wealthy merchants. The chest served as ward- 
robe, strong-box, and, if need be, as seat or table. 
With the bed, it counted among the indispensable 
pieces of household gear, and the care so often given 
to its decoration indicates the importance in which 
it was held. 

On the wall behind the chest is part of a large 
verdure tapestry, of which another fragment is 
shown elsewhere in the gallery. The tapestry is 
Flemish of the mid-sixteenth century, made possibly 
at Enghien. Renaissance motives, as one might 
expect at this time, occur in the border. The great 
curving leaves, enlivened with birds and sprays of 
flowers, are reminiscent in spirit of earlier Gothic 
weaves, but the exquisite little flowering plants which 
pattern the mz//efleurs have here grown to monstrous 
proportions. 


39 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Before commenting on the wood-carvings which 
compose the greater part of the exhibits in this gal- 
lery, it may be recalled that in the fifteenth century 
monumental sculpture no longer played the impor. 
tant part in the exterior decoration of churches that 
it had in the earlier centuries. On then other had, 
sculpture was lavishly used in the interior of churches; 
for example, on choir-stalls, pulpits, altarpieces, tab- 
ernacles, fonts, rood-screens, and tombs. Asa ma- 
terial for sculpture wood became very popular in 
this period. It was inexpensive, but when painted 
and gilded made a brave display, a circumstance 
which undoubtedly appealed to the shrewd bourgeoisie 
—the prosperous traders and manufacturers, whose 
liberal if not always enlightened patronage of the 
arts was a conspicuous feature of the time. As wood 
is not difficult to work, the material lent itself admir- 
ably to the realistic sculpture then in vogue. More- 
over, the wood-carver could indulge, without excessive 
labor, in the “stunts” of crumpled drapery folds 
which betray the waning taste of the late Gothic 
period. The ease with which wood-carvings could 
be transported was another reason for the popularity 
of this material; the sculptor could remain at home, 
benefiting from association with his fellow-craftsmen, 
and yet command a wide market for his work. On 
the other hand, this circumstance undoubtedly tended 
to develop ateliers where the production was so 
commercialized as to be inconsistent with high 
quality. 

Altarpieces of carved wood, often of considerable 
size, were extremely popular in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries. The wood-carvers of Germany 
and the Netherlands particularly excelled in the 

140 


GALLERY F 6 


production of these retables, which assumed various 
forms; in general, however, they exhibit the same 
fondness for narrative subjects! and for pictorial 
effects, in which various devices, such as building 
up a composition with foreground figures wholly or 
partly in the round against a background of lower re- 
lief, were utilized to give the appearance of depth. 
This pictorial character was further emphasized by 
the painting with wh ch the sculpture was completed, 
a polychrome decoration no longer conventional, as 
in the earlier periods, but realistic. Although the 
old convention of the gold background still continued 
in favor, the gold was sometimes replaced by a 
painted landscape or other scene; and in the same 
altarpiece paintings of figure subjects, complete in 
themselves, were not infrequently combined with 
sculpture. 

As we are accustomed to seeing Gothic sculpture 
either stripped of its painted decoration or, if this is 
retained, with the colors either mellowed by time or 
veiled by whitewash, it is not improbable that we 
should be somewhat startled by aGothic carving fresh 
from the painter’s hand.? It must be remembered, 
however, that these polychrome sculptures were de- 
signed to be seen in the dim but colorful interior of 
churches, splendid with rich-hued tapestries, mural 
paintings, and windows of storied glass; and that the 
painting and gilding not only harmonized with the 
general effect, but also served the very useful purpose, 


1Usually scenes from the lives of Our Lord, the Virgin, and saints, in 
which may often be traced the influence of the mystery plays. 

2Incidentally, it may be noted that the painters and gilders who com- 
pleted the sculptor’s work were held in high esteem by their contempora- 
ries. The painters were often men of distinguished ability; Jan Van 
Eyck, for example, did not disdain this form of collaboration. 


I4I 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


from a didactic point of view, of making the subject 
easier to “read.” 

In the wall-case (A) opposite the Gothic chest, 
previously mentioned, are exhibited two statuettes 
representing a pope and a bishop (perhaps Saint 
Gregory and Saint Ambrose or Saint Augustine), 
with which we may commence 
our notes on some of the sculp- 
tures in Gallery F 6. These two 
figures are typical of the best 
sculpture produced at Calcar, on 
the Lower Rhine, about 1500. 
The two principal centers of 
north German sculpture at this 
time were Calcar and Lubeck, in 
the Hanseatic region. Owing to 
the proximity of the Low Coun- 
tries, German sculpture in the 
north was largely under Nether- 
landish influence. 

Another fine example of the 
Calcar school, dating from about 
the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, is a large high-relief representing the Dor- 
mition of the Virgin (fig. 80) on the wall to the right 
of the entrance to the American Wing. The Apostles, 
actively manifesting their grief, are gathered around 
the high bed upon which the Virgin lies; the relief is 
evidently inspired by (if not copied from) a painting 
by some such artist as the Master of the Death of 
the Virgin. The scene is dramatic, but vulgar in 
its over-animation, a criticism which applies to much 
German and Flemish sculpture of the late Gothic and 
transitional period. 





FIG. 79. STATUETTE 
GERMAN, ABOUT I1$20 


142 


GALLERY F 6 


With the decline of the earlier Gothic tradition, a 
mannered elegance became the besetting vice of the 
sculptors at Calcar, as elsewhere, and after the middle 
of the century the school was no longer of impor- 
tance. As an example of Calcar sculpture of about 
1520, affected in style but nevertheless charming in 
its flamboyant preciosity, one may note the statuette 





FIG. 80. DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN 
CALCAR SCHOOL, EARLY XVI 
CENTURY 


(fig. 79) exhibited in Case B of a decidedly over- 
dressed young lady who flaunts along, a prayer book 
ostentatiously held before her, a rosary swinging at 
her side. This deliciously absurd little figure is pre- 
sumably intended to represent Saint Mary Magdalen. 

Christ among the Doctors 1s the subject of a group 
in high relief, probably Lower Rhenish work of about 
1500-1510, exhibited in the same case as the little 
lady. It formed part of a large altarpiece, and has 
retained much of its original painting and gilding. 
The perspective effects and the detached figures are 
characteristic devices, to which reference has already 


143 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


been made, for securing an illusion of depth in relief 
sculpture. Other sculptures of the Lower Rhine 
are shown nearby; attention may be called to an 
unusual statue of Saint Bridget of Sweden seated 
at her writing-desk. With this passing mention we 
must turn to the more characteristically German 
wood-carvings of the south. 

The principal schools in southern Germany were 
those of Franconia and Sua- 
bia; second to these were the 
schools of Bavaria, the Tyrol, 
and the Upper and the Mid- 
dle Rhine. In Franconia the 
chief centers were Nurem- 
berg and Wurzburg. Of first 
importance at Nuremberg 
were Veit Stoss, preéminently 
: : a wood-carver, and Adam 
FIG. 81. SAINT BARBARA Krafft, who worked princi- 

SCHOOL OF NIKOLAUS” pally in stonepammaberta aes 

OF LEY DEN . . 

ter suited to his less emo- 
tional art than the subservient wood from which Veit 
Stoss carved with passionate intensity and a truly 
German excess of emphasis his realistic, highly in- 
dividualized conceptions, forceful as single figures 
but rarely combined in happily unified compositions. 
A more lyric art prevailed at Wurzburg, where Til- 
man Riemenschneider created dreamy, poetic types, 
charming in sentiment if unimpressive dramatically. 
Tranquillity is the dominant characteristic of the 
school of Suabia, of which Ulm was the center. 
Gestures are more restrained, compositions less dif- 
fuse, drapery treated in an ampler, less tumultuous 
fashion than in the rival school of Franconia. In 


144 





GALLERY F 6 


the expression of emotion the body counts for little, 
but a gentle revery irradiates the sensitive counte- 
nance. Jorg Syrlin the Elder was the most distin- 
guished sculptor of the school; his realistic studies 
held in check the trend to sentimentality which over- 
took his son, Jorg Syrlin the Younger. A number 
of sculptures of the Suabian school are exhibited in 
Gallery F 6, but none calls 
for special mention. 

The most gifted sculptor 
working in the region of 
the Upper Rhine in the 
fifteenth century was a 
foreigner, Nikolaus of 
Leyden, whose work, 
profoundly realistic but 
ennobled by spiritual qual- 
ities, shows stylistic affini- 
ties with the Burgundian 
school of Claus Sluter at — Fic. 82. CHURCH FATHER 
its best. In our collection page salt av eo alae 
are two busts in painted wood of Saint Barbara (fig. 
81) and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which may be 
attributed to Nikolaus, or, with greater probability, to 
his school. These sculptures, which were originally 
in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Weissen- 
burg, Alsace, stand on either side of the entrance to 
the American Wing. 

Flanking them are two French wood-carvings of 
the second half of the fifteenth century, representing 
two of the Latin Church Fathers, Saint Jerome with 
his lion and either Saint Ambrose or Saint Augustine 
(fig. 82). The Fathers are seated at their reading 
desks; the designs of the chairs with their linen-fold 


145 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


and other carved decorations are especially interest- 
ing, as very few chairs of this period have come 
down to us in original condition. Beautiful these 
chairs may have been, but one begs leave to doubt if 
they were comfortable. Comfort was a quality of 
rare occurrence before the luxury-loving eighteenth 
century made it a requisite of furniture design. But 
to return to our sculptures, the rendering of the 
drapery in these French wood-carvings seems re- 
freshingly simple and natural when contrasted with 
German and Flemish examples. In Flemish sculp- 
ture, although the drapery is broken up into com- 
plicated angular folds, it is still more or less func- 
tional—that is to say, expressive of form and action; 
but the drapery in German sculpture, more often 
than not, seems to have little relation to the figure, 
and to have been considered rather as an independent 
means of conveying emotional or decorative inten- 
tions. 

The only Spanish wood-carving in the gallery is an 
early sixteenth-century figure, about half life-size, 
representing Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus, 
from a group of the Entombment. The painting 
and gilding of this sculpture are admirably preserved; 
note the characteristic Spanish method of enriching 
and giving an effect of texture to the gilded surfaces 
of the drapery by means of painted or incised lines. 

As the visitor leaves Gallery F 6 to enter the main 
hall, he may note a Tyrolese statue of Saint George 
and the dragon, a quaintly attitudinizing figure, 
interesting for the representation of armor; and on 
the left, the only stone statue we have occasion to 
mention in the gallery, a French Virgin and Child of 
about 1400. 

146 


CiAPLER VI 
GALLERY F 7 
GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE ART 


At the north end of the hall is a large reredos of 
carved alabaster, made for the Archbishop of Zara- 
goza, Don Dalmacio de Mur (died 1456). This altar- 
piece (fig. 83), originally in the archiepiscopal palace 
at Zaragoza, is the work of an immediate pupil 
or assistant of Pere Johan de Vallfogona, one of the 
sculptors commissioned by Don Dalmacio to execute 
the great retable of La Seo at Zaragoza. Other 
works by this important Spanish master, who died 
in 1447, include the large altarpiece at Tarragona, 
in which the artist was assisted by Guillermo de la 
Mota. 

Smaller than the two great retables just men- 
tioned, our reredos consists of five panels sculptured 
in high relief, surmounted by elaborate canopies and 
resting on a substructure decorated with carvings 
in relief of two bearded men holding shields with 
the arms of Don Dalmacio. The present altar is a 
conjectural reconstruction in cement, but the carv- 
ings on the front, two shields with the arms of the 
Archbishop and one with emblems of the Passion, 
are original. Surprising as it may seem to us, since 
the alabaster in its present condition seems particu- 
larly lovely to eyes unaccustomed to polychrome 


147 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


sculpture, there is plentiful evidence that the reredos 
was originally completed with painting and gilding. 
The central scene represents the Pentecost. The 
two scenes on the right depict incidents in the life of 
Saint Thecla of Iconium. In one, the saint is rep- 
resented at her window listening to Saint Paul 
preaching to the people gathered around him. In 
the second scene, Saint Thecla 1s shown in the midst 
of the flames to which she was condemned as a result 
of her devotion; the fire, however, failed to harm her, 
and she escaped with Saint Paul to Antioch. The 
other two scenes on the left represent episodes in the 
life of Saint Martin of Tours. In one, we see Saint 
Martin on horseback dividing his cloak with a sword 
to clothe a miserable beggar. The subject of the 
second relief is the vision of Saint Martin, in which 
Christ, who had assumed the form of the beggar, 
appears to the Saint wearing the half mantle. Span- 
ish sculpture at this time was deeply influenced by 
the realistic Gothic art of the north, either indirectly 
through imported works or directly by the Franco- 
Flemish artists working in Spain. The old legends 
were thus retold in terms of every-day life. Note, 
for example, in the vision of Saint Martin, such a 
homely bit of genre as the cat and the pair of boots 
under the bed—a little touch of the uncelestial which 
makes the miraculous apparition all the more credi- 
ble. To this realistic tendency in Spanish sculpture 
is added a fondness for complicated ornament, ex- 
emplified in the reredos by the elaborate architectural 
canopies and by the mouldings carved with foliage 
interspersed with grotesque heads and tiny angels. 
Behind the altar is a large hanging embroidered 
with the arms of Pope Alexander VII. To the right 
148 


4 ¢ 


VNODOATIVA 3G NVHOl[ auad AO AIALS SAUNLNAO AX SHSINVdS ‘SOGAUTY LQ Ola 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


is a sculpture of considerable archaeological interest; 
this marble statue is one of the eight angels made 
by Piero di Giovanni Tedesco for the facade of the 
Duomo in Florence at the end of the fourteenth cen- 
tury. The large choir-stalls are good examples of 
church furniture at the end of the fifteenth century. 
Above them are four stone gargoyles, or waterspouts, 
in the form of grotesque animals and human figures. 

Of the four vestments exhibited in the floor-cases, 
A and B, the most interesting is a chasuble of green 
velvet with appliqué decorations of English em- 
broidery. At either end of the vestment cases are 
statuettes from a series representing the twelve 
Apostles; they are Flemish wood-carvings of the 
late Gothic period. The mannered elegance of these 
statuettes, which retain traces of their original 
painted decoration, is unusually attractive. 

The large floor-case, C, contains a number of small 
examples of Gothic wood-carving, mainly French and 
Flemish. Several are fragments from large altar- 
pieces composed of many scenes. We may note, for 
example, a group of two women and a group of the 
Virgin supported by Saint John and the Magdalen, 
both from Crucifixion scenes and of the Antwerp 
school. Among other carvings in this case are 
statuettes of the Virgin and Child, of Saint Martin, 
and of Saint Peter. An Entombment of the end of 
the fifteenth century is a characteristic example of 
north French carving, close in style to the Flemish 
but more restrained, and for this reason more im- 
pressive dramatically than the exuberant German 
and Flemish sculptures. One of the most important 
carvings, both artistically and historically, represents 
the Apostles in prayer (Pentecost). This impressive 

150 


GALLERY F 7 


little group, reminiscent of the fourteenth century in 
the treatment of the drapery but vitalized by the 
new spirit of realism, is closely related in style to the 
retable at Hal, executed in 1409 by Henric van Lat- 
tem and Meyere and Nico- 
las de Clerc; our. sculpture 
may consequently be as- 
signed to the first years of 
the fifteenth century. It 
is an important example of 
the few existing Flemish 
wood-carvings of this early 
period. 
Crossing now to the first 
wall-group on the right, as 
the spectator faces the en- 
trance to the Morgan 
Wing, the central figure is 
a stone statue of the Virgin 
and Child, of the second 
half of the fifteenth cen- 
Rupe uc 4). this: de- 
lightful French sculpture 
stands in the doorway of a 
fifteenth-century wain- 
scoted vestibule. On the ee ee a 
right is a stone statue, un- 
fortunately much restored, of Saint George and the 
dragon; a corresponding figure on the left, represent- 
ing Saint Martin and the beggar, is of the same 
period, that is, about 1500. Both sculptures show 
the new striving for elegance and charm of sentiment 
which came as a reaction in the late days of Gothic 
art to the excessive realism of the fifteenth century. 
151 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The statues in carved wood of Saint Peter and Saint 
Paul are unusually fine examples of French wood- 
carving in the late fifteenth century, revealing that 
comparative sobriety of style which distinguished 
the late Gothic French productions from the con- 
temporaneous German and Flemish work. With 
these is exhibited a small chest (fig. 48) ornamented 
with carvings of the Annunciation and figures of 
saints, a French work of the 
second half of the fifteenth 
century and one of the fin- 
est pieces of furniture in 
the collection. 

Crossing to the opposite 
wall the visitor comes to a 
large canopied seat, a not- 
able example of French fur- 
niture in the late fifteenth 

FIG. 85. WOOD-CARVING — or early sixteenth century, 

AMENTSH) SV CENSS® which forms the center of a 
group of sculptures of Flemish or German origin. 
One of the most interesting is a Flemish wood-carving 
of Saint Nicholas, which dates about 1500 (fig. 86). 
Wearing his episcopal vestments (he was Bishop of 
Bari), the Saint makes the sign of the cross over a tub 
from which rise three little children. The incident 
is from one of the many legends associated with Saint 
Nicholas. Three boys had been killed by a wicked 
innkeeper, chopped up, and salted away in a tub; 
through the intercession of the Saint the crime was 
discovered and the children resuscitated. A Suabian 
group of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and 
Saint Elizabeth formed part, no doubt, of one of 
those large compositions representing the Kindred of 

152 





GALLERY F 7 


the Virgin which were so popular in German art. 
Sheltered under an elaborate canopy is a little Rhen- 
ish group of the Virgin and Child seated on a bench 
with Saint Anne and attended by music-making 
angels (fig. 85). 

The central feature of the next wall-group on this 
side of the hall is a small 
French tapestry, presum- 
ably made in Touraine 
about 1470-80, represent- 
ing the Adoration of the 
Magi. This is an admi- 
table example of a late 
Gothic tapestry, more 
pictorial in character than 
the earlier weaves but 
beautifully decorative in 
its clean-cut design and 
strong but harmonious 
colors. Standing ona 
late Gothic cabinet is a 
French stone sculpture in 
high relief, of about the 
same date as the tapes- 
try, representing the in- 
terior of the stable at 
Bethlehem, with Saint Joseph seated in front of the 
fire warming the Infant’s linen, while the Virgin 
kneels in adoration of the Child, who lies in a wicker 
crib adored by angels and the ox and ass (fig. 88). 
This charming genre scene, so suggestive of the thea- 
ter, may indeed have been inspired by similar repre- 
sentations in mystery plays; these are known to have 
exerted a considerable influence upon mediaeval ico- 


uxS 





FIG. 86. SAINT NICHOLAS 
FLEMISH, ABOUT 1500 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


nography. To the left of the cabinet is a graceful 
statuette of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a stone 
sculpture of about 1500, formerly in the Hospital at 
Issoudun (fig. 87). Saint Catherine is usually rep- 
resented holding a broken wheel (here forming the 
ornament of the crown) with a 
bearded king writhing beneath her 
feet, to recall the legend that the 
Saint, an Egyptian princess famous 
for her learning, had indignantly 
refused the Emperor Maximilian’s 
offers of marriage, 1n consequence 
of which she was condemned to 
death on the wheel; but through 
divine intercession fire from heaven 
destroyed this cruel instrument of 
torture so that it was only by the 
sword that the Saint eventually 
suffered martyrdom. Nearby is a 
life-size stone statue of Saint John 
the Baptist, a notable example of 
fourteenth-century French sculp- 
ture of monumental character. 








FIG. 87. SAINT ; : 
CATHERINE The group is completed by a life- 


FRENCH size stone statue of Saint Cather- 


BOL oe ine, a typical French sculpture of 


the late fifteenth century; and by a winsome little 
statue of Saint Mary Magdalen, a characteristic work 
of the School of Troyes about 1510~20. 

Turning now to the opposite wall, the visitor 
should note on the way the wood sculptures exhibit- 
ed in the floor-case,-D. For the most pantyethese 
carvings are from the prolific ateliers of Brussels or 
Antwerp Here are groups or single figures that 


154 


GALLERY F 7 


once formed part of the great retables in which the 
Flemish carvers delighted. A group of holy women 
with the Virgin and Saint John is interesting as a 
particularly well-preserved example of the painting 
and gilding which originally completed all these wood 
sculptures. Highly dramatic is a group figuring the 
Descent from the Cross. In the style of Jan Bor- 
man, the leading wood-carver of Brussels in the late 





FIG. 88. NATIVITY, FRENCH, XV CENTURY 


fifteenth and early sixteenth century, are several 
fragments from altarpieces; they are forceful in 
character but sometimes verge on caricature in the 
exaggeration of types and movement. Perhaps the 
most beautiful sculpture in the case is a Flemish 
statuette of Saint Anne holding on her arm the 
youthful Mary, who supports in her turn the infant 
Christ to whom Saint Anne offers a bunch of grapes. 

Forming an aisle in the center of the hall are six- 
teen columns with double capitals of the fourteenth 
century. Exhibited between the columns are several 
small sculptures which deserve attention. The most 
important of those on the right, as we face the Span- 


us) 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ish altarpiece, is a statuette of the Virgin and Child, 
sadly mutilated yet beautiful in its ruin; the name of 
Claus Sluter comes to mind, but the statue is more 
probably by some contemporary than by this great 
master himself. Opposite is a stone statue of Saint 
James the Great, unusual in its hard, dry style, 
presumably English work of the fifteenth century. 
More attractive is the exquisite little figure of Saint 
Catherine. The alabaster statuette of Saint Michael 
is a Spanish work of the fifteenth century. On the 
other side of the colonnade is a late French Gothic 
sculpture of the Virgin and Child enthroned in a 
richly carved, paneled chair. 

We come now to the wall-group centering upon a 
large tomb relief representing the deceased, attended 
by an angel, kneeling before the Virgin and Child. 
Unfortunately, this stone relief, probably carved at 
Tournai at the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
has been badly injured. Above is a relief carving 
in stone representing six Apostles standing in an 
arcade; this panel was presumably the left half of an 
altarpiece, divided into equal parts by the taber- 
nacle, and may be described as French, about 1400. 
The group is completed by two French statues of 
deacons holding candlesticks; by a fifteenth-century 
statue, also French, of Saint Barbara; and by a partic- 
ularly beautiful group of the Education of the Virgin, 
a masterpiece of the school of Troyes about 1510-15. 
The Virgin, her long wavy hair crowned with flowers, 
is represented as a young girl standing beside Saint 
Anne, who teaches her to read from a book which 
they hold together (fig. 89). With this group, in 
which repose, dignity, and a new tenderness of senti- 
ment have replaced the asperities of fifteenth-century 

156 





FIG. 89. EDUCATION OF THE VIRGIN 
FRENCH, SCHOOL OF TROYES 
ABOUT ISIO-I§ 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


realism, we complete our brief review of the Gothic 
sculptures in the collection. 

With few exceptions, the Italian Renaissance 
sculptures composing the two wall-groups at the 
south end of the hall do not form part of the Pierpont 
Morgan Collection. The central group to the right 
is a Pieta in painted terracotta; the sorrowing Virgin 
holds the body of the dead Christ in her lap, His head 
supported by Saint John the Evangelist, His feet 
by Mary Magdalen. This Pieta, finely composed, is 
an admirable work of Giovanni della Robbia or of 
his school (see page 178). By Giovanni himself, 
while still a young man and influenced by his master 
Andrea, is an attractive statuette of the kneeling 
Virgin; another work by Giovanni is a portrait bust 
of a young boy, represented in the guise of Saint 
John the Evangelist. In both pieces the terracot- 
tais partly enameled, partly painted, producing a 
pleasing variation in surface textures. The three 
large marble reliefs on this wall are north Italian 
sculptures. Above the Pieta is a marble portrait 
medallion of Acellino di Meliaduce Salvago, made 
about 1500 by Tamagnini; this low relief, delicately 
modeled within its sharply defined contours, 1s 
highly stylized but presents, no doubt, an admirable 
likeness of the Genoese banker and statesman. By 
Pietro Lombardo, a north Italian master (see page 
179) who worked principally at Venice, is a subtly 
modeled relief of the Virgin and Child. The stone 
frame does not belong to the piece but forms an 
effective setting. Similar ornament decorates the 
two pilasters framing the marble relief of Saint 
Andrew standing in a niche (fig. 95); this sculpture 
is the work of Andrea Bregno, of Milan, who worked 

158 


GALLERY F 7 


chiefly in Rome after 1460 until 1506. The relief 
was originally part of the decoration of an altar given 
to the ancient basilica of St. Peter’s at Rome by 
Guillaume de Perrier in 1491. By Francesco Lau- 
rana, or of his atelier, is a marble mask of a young 
woman; it was probably intended to be affixed to a 
sepulchral figure or to a bust sculptured in some 
other material than marble. Another delightful 
fragment is a smiling cherub by Rossellino. 

On the south wall are 
two panels of fantastic or- 
nament in low relief, attrib- 
uted to the Spanish artist 
Berruguete (see page 180); 
two French Renaissance 
caryatid figures in stone; a 
Peetaitsof the Emperor 
Charles V, dated 1552 and FIG. go. ST.-PORCHAIRE 
carved in honestone after cae ae 

: FRENCH, XVI CENTURY 
a bronze relief by Leone 
Leoni; and heraldic medallions in enameled terra- 
cotta from the della Robbia atelier. | 

Two floor-cases, E and F, contain French faience 
of the Renaissance period, a notable feature of the 
Morgan Collection. In one (E) are examples of the 
work of Bernard Palissy and his school and, of ex- 
ceptional interest, seven pieces! of the rare faience de 
Saint-Porchaire or Henri II ware (fig. go). This 
beautiful faience, which dates from the middle years 
of the sixteenth century, is decorated with charac- 
teristic strap-work designs and ornaments recalling 
the bookbindings of the period, produced by inlay- 





'Two standing cups and covers, a ewer, a salt cellar, and a mortar- 


shaped bowl. 
oY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ing colored clays in the slip covering the earthenware 
body; there is also a considerable use of plastic orna- 
ment consisting of cherub heads, masks, and figures 
of children. The interlaced crescents of Henri II 
and Diane de Poitiers occur on the salt cellar and 
on one of the cups; the cover of the other cup or 
tazza displays the arms of Montmorency-Laval. 
In Case F is an important 
group of French faience of 
the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries from the 
potteries of Rouen, Nevers 
(fig. g1), Avignon, Sauvi- 
gnies, Beauvais, and 
Nimes; among them are 
several fine examples of the 
rare faience made at Lyons 
and decorated in the style 
of Italian “majelicaytie 
two small floor-cases, G and H, contain elaborately 
embroidered vestments. 

At this point attention may be called to a set of 
five Flemish tapestries of the seventeenth century 
hanging on the east wall They relate the history 
of Antony and Cleopatra, and are signed by the 
Brussels weavers, Jan van Leefdael and Gerard van 
der Strecken; the set was bequeathed to the Museum 
in 1892 by Mrs. Elizabeth U. Coles. 

The visitor comes now to the last of the wall- 
groups, which has for its center a Nativity group in 
painted terracotta, attributed to the great Floren- 
tine sculptor, Antonio Rossellino. This picturesque 
group consists of five pieces: the kneeling Virgin, 
the Christ Child, Saint Joseph seated with his head 


160 





FIG. QI. NEVERS FAIENCE 
FRENCH, XVil CENTURY 


GALLER YEE 07 


bowed in meditation, and the ox and the ass__ Al- 
though a presépio often consisted of only these five 
figures, it is not impossible that our Nativity may 
have included the shepherds and other accessory 
figures of the elaborate groups that were popular 
even as early as the end of the fifteenth century in 
Naples. | 

Above the Nativity group is placed a marble tondo, 
a portrait medallion in the manner of Amadeo, rep- 
resenting Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. Two 
cassoni, richly ornamented in relief and gilded, are 
splendid examples of this important class of Italian 
Renaissance furniture. Above the cassoni are panels 
of French sixteenth-century tiles and two Italian 
fifteenth-century reliefs in terracotta of the Virgin 
and Child, one an anonymous Tuscan work dating 
from the early years of the century, the other a 
replica of the Veronese Madonna of Donatello (see 
page 176). Nearby is the doorway opening into 
Gallery F 8, where the exhibition of Renaissance art 
is continued. 


161 





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IV 


RENAISSANCE 
ART 











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SAP ER 
INTRODUCTION 


In the chapter on Gothic art (see pp. 68-74) there 
is a brief account of that stage in the evolution of 
European thought which was accomplished between 
the twelfth and the seventeenth century, when great 
advances were made in freeing the intellect from the 
shackles of mediaeval speculation, and in reasserting 
man’s self-esteem as he came to know more of his 
past and of the world in which he lived. These 
four eventful centuries preceding the modern age of 
science constitute a period in the history of civiliza- 
tion which is sometimes called the Renaissance. 

More commonly, however, this term is used to 
describe a style of art which was evolved in Italy 
in the fifteenth century and which, in the following 
century, prevailed generally throughout Europe. 
This designation, however, is by no means an ideal 
one. It implies that Renaissance art was a rebirth 
of classical art, which was far from being the case. 
Although the recovery of ancient culture through the 
efforts of the humanists (see page 73) played an 
important part in the formation of the new style, 
this enthusiasm for antiquity was counterbalanced 
by a no less ardent enthusiasm for nature, common 
to all European art at this period. That the Renais- 

165 


THE PIERPONT MORGANS WiInG 


sance style should have first taken definite form in 
Italy was due to the labors of the Italian humanists 
and to the exceptional opportunities for the study and 
emulation of ancient art which the still existing mon- 
uments on Italian soil afforded. 

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
Italy enjoyed an extraordinary development of all 
the arts. No country has ever produced within the 
brief period of two hundred years more artists of 
surpassing genius. Recall the names of Donatello, 
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Correggio, Giorgi- 
one, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, 
Brunelleschi, Bramante, Benvenuto Cellini, to men- 
tion but a few of the most celebrated masters. What 
a glorious roster of genius! 

The artistic supremacy of Italy in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries is in striking contrast to her politi- 
cal weakness during this period. Divided into nu- 
merous small, independent states, criss-crossed with 
intrigues and fugitive alliances, Italy was doomed 
to pay the price for the failure to achieve that na- 
tional consciousness which, beyond the Alps, was 
giving rise to the modern states. In the course of the 
fifteenth century, both England and France estab- 
lished strong monarchical governments; the Hundred 
Years’ War had settled the question between the two 
countries of supremacy on the Continent; and the 
royal power had been strengthened in England by 
the War of the Roses and in France by the crafty 
plotting of Louis XI. The marriage in 1469 of Isa- 
bella of Castile with Ferdinand of Aragon united the 
greater part of Spain, and with the fall of Granada in 
1492 the recovery of the Peninsula from the Moors 
was completed. In the sixteenth century Spain was 

166 


RENAISSANCE ART 


for a time the strongest military power in Eu- 
rope, and, with wealth pouring in from her American 
possessions, enjoyed a period of transient greatness 
which ended with the revolt of the Netherlands. 
Although the German Empire was a loose, turbulent 
confederacy of numerous practically independent 
states, ruled by an emperor whose strength depended 
more upon his family possessions than upon any 





FIG. 92. JASPER CUP 
ENAMELED AND JEWELED 
BENVENUTO CELLINI (?) 


imperial authority, the Emperor Maximilian through 
his matrimonial moves became a dominant figure in 
European politics. By his own marriage Maximilian 
obtained the rich lands of Burgundy; but his master- 
stroke was the marriage which he arranged between 
his son Philip and the heiress of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella. As a result of these alliances Maximilian’s 
grandson, Charles V, fell heir to the greatest empire 
Europe had known since the days of Charlemagne. 
Fortunately for Italy, her neighbors were too 
167 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


occupied with growing pains during most of the 
fifteenth century to pay much attention to the tempt- 
ing prize which lay within their reach; but the in- 
vasion of Italy by Charles VIII of France in 1494 
revealed the lack of any national feeling in Italy, and 
other invasions quickly followed. Italy became the 
battleground of European powers, and until the mid- 
dle of the nineteenth century was dominated by for- 
elgn nations, especially by Spain and Austria. 

The failure to achieve union was fatal to Italian 
liberty, but not unfavorable to artistic development. 
An ingrowing patriotism, 1f one may use the phrase, 
encouraged the embellishment of cities and the devel- 
opment of local schools. To gratify civic pride, 
and at the same time to distract attention from 
their machinations, the great princes found it often 
advantageous as well as agreeable to extend a magnifi- 
cent patronage to the arts. A large surplus wealth, 
the result of commercial and industrial prosperity, 
was available for artistic purposes, and of this “art 
fund” a liberal share went to the construction and 
adornment of churches. Such pontiffs as Alexan- 
der VI, Julius II, and Leo X were munificent patrons 
of the arts; but the splendor of the papal court was 
maintained at a terrific cost, and the means adopted 
for raising revenue constituted one of the immediate 
causes of the Protestant Revolution. This was a 
political, social, economic, as well as religious move- 
ment, long in preparation, which in the course of the 
sixteenth century lost to the Papacy England, Scot- 
land, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, northern 
Germany, and part of Switzerland. The Catholic 
Reformation, which ensued in the second half of the 
sixteenth century, purged the Church of various 

168 


RENAISSANCE ART 


abuses and reasserted the grounds of Catholic belief. 
The Catholic revival gave a new stimulus to art, and 
at the close of our period the baroque style makes its 
appearance. 

The extent to which classical forms were imitated 
in Italian architecture of the Romanesque period, 
especially in Tuscany, indicates a trend of taste which 
might have brought about at an 
earlier date the classical revival 
accomplished in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, had not the 
Gothic style, imported by the 
Cistercians at the close of the 
twelfth century, imposed its su- 
perficial characteristics, although 
not its logical structure, upon 
Italian architecture for two cen- 
turies or more. But in the fif- 





FIG, 93. 
teenth century, as already noted, See 
the Italian artist turned with ATTRIBUTED TO 
eager interest to the remains of LEONE LEONI 


classical art, and the influence of 
this enthusiasm for antiquity is nowhere more appar- 
ent than in Renaissance architecture. 

The criticism is frequently heard that Renaissance 
architecture makes use of architectural forms for 
their decorative value alone, irrespective of structural 
significance, and for this reason is inferior to the 
Gothic. Admittedly, Gothic architecture is organic 
and Renaissance is not. But Renaissance architec- 
ture is no less permanent than Gothic; it served the 
needs of those for whom it was built no less success- 
fully; and the third requirement of good architecture 
—beauty—it achieved in no uncertain measure and 

169 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


with a prodigality for which the world can never be 
sufficiently grateful. 

Three periods are distinguished in the develop- 
ment of Italian Renaissance architecture: the Early 
Renaissance, from about 1420 to the close.of the 
fifteenth century; the High Renaissance, from about 
1500 to 1540; and the Late Renaissance, from about 
1540 to 1580. 

Florence held the leadership in the Early Renais- 
sance, which was a period of transition and innova- 
tion. The secular spirit of the age fostered the 
development of civic and domestic architecture, of 
which the monuments, notably the palaces of the 
nobles and rich merchants, now rivaled the churches 
in architectural importance. The characteristic feat- 
ures of the Renaissance church appeared early in 
the work of the Florentine architects. Although the 
longitudinal plan of the Gothic church was not dis- 
carded, the central type of late Roman and Byzan- 
tine architecture, in which the building is composed 
about a central vertical axis, was revived and elab- 
orated. The preferred form of vaulting was the 
dome, but the flat, coffered ceiling and the barrel 
vault were also in favor. The clustered supports of 
Gothic architecture were replaced by classical forms 
of columns, pilasters, and entablatures. The archi- 
tectural orders appear again on the facade and were 
treated there, as in the interior, with a freedom which 
gave considerable scope to originality. The Renais- 
sance architect appears as a definite personality, 
exercising a greater control over the general design 
than in the Gothic period. Two Florentines, Bru- 
nelleschi and Alberti, were the principal architects of 
the Early Renaissance. 

170 


RENAISSANCE ART 


Outside of Tuscany, the Renaissance style was 
accepted only gradually. In the second half of the 
fifteenth century, Rome experienced an artistic re- 
vival; in some instances the building of this period 
achieved a close imitation of classical architecture, 
but on the whole mediaeval traditions still prevailed. 
In northern Italy, despite the gradual adoption of 
superficial Renaissance characteristics, the new 
movement was imperfectly understood until the close 
of the first period; this transitional architecture is not 
without its charm, although frequently marred by an 
excessive use of ornament. 

With the sixteenth century the leadership passed 
from Florence to Rome, which now became under 
Wultus tl and Leo X the artistic center of Italy. In 
the High Renaissance the study of the antique was 
seriously undertaken, and a greater refinement of 
taste and a more harmonious union of antique and 
modern elements characterize the architecture of this 
period. Bramante was the most influential architect 
of the early sixteenth century. His enthusiasm for 
the antique was controlled by more accomplished 
scholarship than the earlier men had possessed, and 
thus disciplined he strove for a greater unity of 
effect than had been generally attained in the earlier 
period. The Renaissance style was now universally 
accepted throughout Italy; and important architec- 
tural developments occurred at Venice and in adja- 
cent cities, where two disciples of Bramante, San 
Michaeli and Sansovino, employed the classical 
orders in an ornate style which continued the more 
robust qualities of the Roman school. 

In the Late Renaissance, the outstanding feature 
is the conflict between baroque and academic tend- 


171 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


encies. The latter was the outcome of the archaeo- 
logical spirit which had gradually replaced the naive, 
romantic enthusiasm of the Early Renaissance for 
the antique. From the academic point of view, 
classical architecture was no longer a matter of 
folklore, so to speak, but a revealed religion requir. 
ing unfailing obedience to its authority. Palladio 
of Vicenza was the great master of the academic 
school; but, although a classicist, he was not a pe- 
dant. The independent architects who rebelled 
against classical authority and strove to exercise 
their own inventive genius had a redoubtable cham- 
pion in Michelangelo, who revealed in architecture, 
as In painting and sculpture, the same unconventional 
genius. His free treatment of classical motives and 
the originality of his conceptions were a vigorous 
protest against the classicists who would have buried 
architecture, tightly wrapped in rule and precedent, 
in a Roman tomb. The struggle between the two 
tendencies resulted, by the end of the century, in the 
supremacy of the baroque. 

The Italian invasions of Charles VIII, Louis XII, 
and Francis I favored the development of the Renais- 
sance style in France, where, under the patronage 
of king and nobles, secular architecture soon showed 
the influence of the new taste; the Church, more 
conservative, yielded less readily. A par 
period, which extends from about 1495 to 1515, 1 
marked by the increasing use of Renaissance orna- 
ment in the decoration of buildings still fundamen- 
tally Gothic in other respects. Gothic characteristics 
persisted in the architecture of the time of Francis I, 
but the mediaeval structure was more completely 
masked than in the preceding period by an exuber- 

172 


RENAISSANCE ART 


ance of Renaissance motives. By the middle of the 
sixteenth century, except in ecclesiastical architec- 
ture, little remained of the Gothic tradition; the 
Renaissance style was now thoroughly acclimatized. 
Italian influence, especially that of the Roman school, 
played an important 
Gaee ein this mature 
period, but the genius 
of such architects as 
Goujon, Lescot, Bul- 
lant, Ducerceau, and 
Delorme gave a dis- 
tinctly national charac- 
ter to the French inter- 
pretation of classicism. 

The influence of the 
Italian Renaissance ap- 
pears in Spanish archi- 
tecture toward the end 
of the fifteenth cen- 
fan) Vhe first half of eee wa ee a 
the sixteenth century is 
known as the Plateresque period, from the promi- 
nent part played by the goldsmith, or p/atero, in the 
evolution of the intricate style of rich ornamenta- 
tion which then prevailed. But as architects became 
more versed in the grammar of classical forms, an 
academic style developed and flourished from about 
1570 to 1610. | 

The assimilation of the Renaissance style in Ger- 
many and the Netherlands was never so complete 
as in France, and Italian Renaissance forms were 
much modified by Gothic survivals. Even in its 
most classical aspect, German architecture has a 


173 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


guttural character far removed from the limpid ut- 
terance of the Italian masters of the High Renais- 
sance. In general, two periods may be distinguished: 
the Early Renaissance, from about 1520 to 1§50, and 
the High Renaissance, from about 1550 to 1600. 

The Renaissance came later to isolated England 
than to the other European countries. The Tudor 
style, which flourished there from about 1485 to 
1600,' was derived directly from Gothic antecedents, 
although there was a sporadic appearance of Re- 
naissance ornament through the influence of foreign 
sculptors working in England. By the middle of 
the sixteenth century the classical orders began to 
appear on facades; but before the mediaeval ele- 
ments were superseded or the new forms more than 
partially comprehended, the conglomerate style was 
overwhelmed by the baroque. 

Although naturalism is a conspicuous feature of 
Italian painting and sculpture of the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, it 1s not in itself a distinguishing ~ 
characteristic of the Renaissance style. We have 
already noted (see page 82), in discussing Gothic 
art, that in the late fourteenth and the early fifteenth 
century European art generally takes a realistic 
trend. There is, however, a fundamental difference 
between the character of Italian painting and sculp- 
ture of the fifteenth century and that of other 
European schools of the same period, which permits 
us to describe the former as Renaissance and the 
latter as Gothic. Beyond the Alps, the realistic 
tendencies of Gothic art were unchecked save by such 
instinctive good taste as the individual artist might 


1The second half of the sixteenth century is often known as the 


Elizabethan period. 
174 


RENAISSANCE ART 


possess, by the conservatism of an art preponderantly 
ecclesiastical, and by the technical difficulties of the 
craft. As a result, emotional exaggeration and in- 
discriminate interest in objective appearances were 
all too common. In Italy, on the other hand, en- 
thusiasm for nature was controlled and directed to 
aesthetic purposes by the example of classical ait. 
By inspiring the Renaissance artist to strive for the 
ordered beauty of form and compos tion which dis- 
tinguish Greek and Roman art, realistic excesses were 
in large measure avoided. This disciplined realism, 
even more than the new vocabulary of classical mo- 
tives and the new themes drawn from pagan legend 
and mythology, gives to Renaissance art its distinc- 
tive character. 

In commencing a brief account of the development 
of Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture, we 
may note that the division into periods is the same 
as in architecture—the Early Renaissance, covering 
the greater part of the fifteenth century; the High 
Renaissance, extending to the middle of the six- 
teenth century; and the Late Renaissance, compris- 
ing roughly the second half of the sixteenth century. 

Although domestic and civic sculpture attained 
greater importance in the Renaissance than in the 
mediaeval period, the Italian sculptor still found his 
principal employment in the adornment of churches 
and in the production of devotional sculptures for 
the home and for wayside shrines. Some of his most 
notable achievements, however, were in the field of 
_ secular sculpture, which comprised portrait statues 
and busts, fountains for parks and public squares, 
and such ornamental work for palaces as friezes, 
chimneypieces, ceilings, and doorways. The New 


Lys 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


and Old Testaments and the lives of the saints 
furnished the chief subjects for ecclesiastical sculp- 
ture. Pagan themes were popular in other classes of 
sculpture, and even appear in work for the Church. 
The materials most employed were marble and stone, 
bronze, terracotta, and stucco. Wood was little 
used except in the few regions where it was easily 
obtained. Terracotta and stucco were popular sub- 
stitutes tor the more expensive materials. Bronze 
was much used, and its technique carried to a high 
point of perfection. In general, there was a marked 
development of skill in all the technical processes, and 
artists sought greater refinement of form and dellt- 
cacy of execution than in the Gothic period. 

If the painters of Florence share their laurels with 
others, the school was supreme in sculpture. Such 
masters as Ghiberti, Donatello, Luca della Robbia, 
and their successors assured to Florence her leader- 
ship in the Early Renaissance. It was a Florentine, 
Michelangelo, who dominated the age of maturity, 
and in the later period Gian Bologna gave new lustre 
to the name of the city on the Arno. The record of 
Italian sculpture is, therefore, largely the history of 
the Florentine school. 

Ghiberti marks the transition from Gothic to 
Renaissance. In his sculptures the forms of classi- 
cal architecture are introduced, and figures, fauna, 
and flora are freshly studied from the world around, 
while perspective effects reveal the scientific interests 
of the time. It was Donatello, however, who first 
gave complete expression to the new style, although 
classicism is less evident in his sculptures than a 
fervent interest in man and his surroundings. The 
example of classical art led sculptors to study the 

176 





. 9§. SAINT ANDREW 
MARBLE 
BY ANDREA BREGNO 


FIG 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


nude, and Donatello was one of the first of the 
Renaissance masters to rediscover the beauty of the 
human form. His slightly younger contemporary, 
Luca della Robbia, is less dramatic than Donatello, 
but in his serene spirit and sense of beautiful form, 
Luca comes perhaps even closer to the ideals of 
ancient art. Both masters had many pupils and 
imitators, and the Florentine school of the second 
half of the fifteenth century abounded in sculptors 
of exceptional gifts. For the most part, these sculp- 
tors worked in marble or terracotta; but, inspired 
by Donatello’s example, Antonio Pollaiuolo and 
Andrea del Verrocchio excelled in bronze. 

Verrocchio, goldsmith, sculptor, and painter, is 
perhaps the most representative Florentine sculptor 
of the second half of the fifteenth century, as Dona- 
tello was of the first. The work of Verrocchio and 
of his contemporaries shows great technical ability, 
sensitiveness to beauty, and tranquillity of spirit, 
but on the whole the earlier spontaneity tends to 
give way to an elegance not untouched by precious- 
ness. 

As for sculpture outside of Florence, the influence 
of Donatello created an important school at Padua. 
Siena produced at least one great sculptor, Jacopo 
della Quercia, whose forceful, monumental style 
reminds one of Michelangelo. Rome contributed 
little, although it gave considerable patronage to 
Tuscan and Lombard sculptors. In Lombardy and 
Venice, the Gothic style continued in favor long after 
it had been supplanted elsewhere. Lombard sculp- 
ture 1s dramatic, restless, over-luxuriant in decora- 
tion. Venice yielded slowly to the tide of Renais- 
sance influence, but, in the work of such sculptors 

178 


RENAISSANCE ART 


as the Lombardi and Alessandro Leopardi, acknowl- 
edged allegiance to the new movement. 

The formative period of the Renaissance ended 
with the close of the fifteenth century. The age of 
perfected development which followed found its 
supreme expression in the art of Michelangelo, the 
Florentine master whose achievements in painting, 
architecture, and above all, in sculpture, represent 
the full fruition of the Renaissance. In the marble, 
which it was his custom to attack directly with the 
chisel, Michelangelo wrought out the passions and 
concentrated thought of a life gradually sombered 
by adversity. The tremendous vitality of Michel- 
angelo’s sculpture, its technical accomplishment and 
striking originality, exerted a profound influence 
upon his contemporaries and successors. In an age 
which lacked spontaneity the influence of Michelan- 
gelo, too great to be readily assimilated, hastened 
the decline of sculpture to the level of stylistic 
imitation. 

By the second half of the sixteenth century, Ital- 
ian sculpture had entered definitely upon a period of 
decadence. The central figure of the Late Re- 
naissance is the Fleming, Jehan Boulogne (called 
Giovanni Bologna), whose sculpture 1s distinguished 
by a mannered but vigorous classicism. Italian 
sculpture ended in artificiality; 1t was revitalized in 
the baroque period by Bernini, but never regained 
its former height. 

Although the new style spread from Italy to other 
European countries in the course of the fifteenth 
century, its triumph was accomplished only in the 
following century. Spain early came in contact 
with the Renaissance movement. Of the sixteenth- 


no 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


century Spanish sculptors who adopted the Italianate 
manner, Alonso Berruguete, an imitator of Michel- 
angelo, 1s the most prominent. Damian Forment 
may also be mentioned, as well as the Italians, Leone 
Leoni and his son, Pompeo, who were the court 
sculptors of Charles V and Philip II. 

The Renaissance came to France at the close of 
the fifteenth century, manifesting itself first of all in 
architecture and ornament, and under the patronage 
of Francis I rapidly ousted the Gothic style then in 
decadence. French Renaissance sculpture is char- 
acterized by delicacy of execution and by a charming 
naturalism modified by the example of classic art. 
The chief sculptors were Pierre Bontemps, Jean Gou- 
jon, and Germain Pilon. 

The Renaissance was not fruitful in Germany. 
After 1530, there was a decline in all the arts as a 
result of religious wars and economic depression. 
Sculpture became a court art and was largely in the 
hands of Italianate Dutchmen and Flemings, such as 
Adriaen de Vries and Pieter de Witte (Candido). 
The Gothic art of the Netherlands yielded early in 
the sixteenth century to the new movement, which 
was in full control by the middle of the century. 
The school did not, however, produce any sculptors 
of particular note. From the Netherlands, Renais- 
sance influence spread to England. Italian sculp- 
tors such as Torrigiano and Benedetto da Rovezzano 
worked in England, but of the foreign artists, who 
executed most of the important monuments of the 
time, the Flemings were the most influential. 

Italian painting of the Early Renaissance made 
great advances in the knowledge of anatomy, per- 
spective, chiaroscuro, color, and composition; and 

180 


RENAISSANCE ART 


technical skill was perfected in all the processes of 
painting, whether fresco, tempera, or the oil medium 
which came into general use toward the close of the 
period. Less restricted than sculpture to ecclesias. 
tical purposes, Renaissance painting made liberal 
use of classical themes and motives, reviving the 
mythology of ancient Rome and retelling pagan 
legends. As a result of the new interest in nature, 
landscape, although it was not yet depicted for its 
own sake, began to play an important part in paint- 
ing; and the same tendency fostered the develop- 
ment of historical and genre painting as well as of 
portraiture, which found a place not only in secular 
but also in religious art. 

The naturalistic movement of the Early Renais- 
sance had its first great exponent in Masaccio. 
Realistic studies particularly occupied the Florentine 
school, which held the leadership in painting, as 
in sculpture and architecture, during the fifteenth 
century. Uccello experimented in perspective, Pol- 
laiuolo and Castagno sought the secrets of bodily 
structure and movements, and researches in light 
and color marked the work of Domenico Veneziano. 
Not all the Florentines were scientists, however, and 
the older tradition of mediaeval art, modified to meet 
new conditions, was perpetuated by several men of 
genius, more intent on the expression of mystic 
faith than concerned with the world around them. 
The master par excellence of this group was the blithe 
Fra Angelico, although his paintings often reveal 
searching, realistic observation. The most original 
genius of the Florentine school, Botticelli, defies 
classification. The melancholy of a soul tormented 
by antique visions too dimly seen pervades his art, 

181 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


in which paganism and Christianity struggle for 
supremacy. No such spiritual perturbation dis- 
tressed the facile Ghirlandaio, whose altarpieces and 
large mural compositions are pleasing decorations, 
gay with color, skilfully designed, and filled with 
genre and narrative interest. 

Outside of Florence, the impersonal Piero dei 
Franceschi pursued with lofty genius the same course 
as the Florentine scientists; and problems of anat- 
omy and foreshortening preoccupied his pupil, Luca 
Signorelli, whose sculpturesque design and violent 
energy presage the ¢erribilitad of Michelangelo. In 
general, however, these central Italian painters 
practised little of the severe intellectual virtues of 
Florence. They were painters of charming sensi- 
bility, excellent illustrators, and makers of pretty 
patterns. The Umbrian master, Perugino, illustrates 
their virtues and their faults. 

Although Botticelli was haunted by antique visions, 
he did not attempt to re-create the ancient world with 
archaeological exactness, nor do we find scholarship 
in the whimsicalities of Piero di Cosimo, or in the 
fantasies of Filippino Lippi. Unlike these painters, 
whose attitude was romantic rather than archaeo- 
logical, Andrea Mantegna was led by his passion 
for antiquity to attempt to revive not only the spirit 
but the appearances of ancient art. His style is 
sculpturesque and dignified, but owes its vitality 
more to observation of nature than to study of the 
antique. 

The exuberant Gothic style, which persisted in 
Venice long after the dawn of the Renaissance else- 
where in Italy, was transformed largely through the 
influence of Mantegna and of the realistic Antonello 

182 


RENAISSANCE ART 


da Messina. In the labors of Giovanni Bellini’s long 
career one may trace the development of the Vene- 
tian school from mediaeval sentiment and a concep- 
tion of form which hovered between indulgent 
prettiness and fantastic severity, to the mellow 
harmony of color, opulence of form, and lovable 
humanity of the High Renaissance. 

The promises of the Early Renaissance were ful- 
filled in the sixteenth century. Although Florence 
no longer held its position of supremacy in painting, 
this city gave to the High Renaissance two of its 
greatest masters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michel- 
angelo. Leonardo epitomizes the intellectual curi- 
osity of the Renaissance. Devoting his genius not 
only to painting and sculpture but also to engineering 
and to other scientific pursuits, Leonardo found little 
time for painting; but the few extant paintings as- 
suredly from his own hand are distinguished by 
psychological subtleties and consummate science in 
drawing and chiaroscuro. Leonardo’s Milanese and 
Flemish imitators, failing his profound science, lost 
themselves in a maze of mellifluous affectations. 
Michelangelo’s vigorous paintings in the Sistine 
Chapel contributed no less than his sculptures to the 
leadership of Rome in the sixteenth century, when the 
Eternal City as a center of art was rivaled only by 
Venice. Raphael (fig. 96), who vivified the Umbrian 
pietism of his early art by contact with the Floren- 
tine school, reveals in the mature paintings of his 
Roman period the full blossoming of his genius. 
The most perfect of illustrators, the “divine Raph- 
ael” enchanted his fellow-men then as now with 
the clearness of his narration of Christian story and 
pagan myth, and with the amenities of his agreeable 

183 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


color, carefully studied composition, and gracious 
forms. The sensuousness of the Renaissance found 
its exponent in Correggio, a master of chiaroscuro and 
audacious perspective effects, who delighted in volup- 
tuous forms, gleaming in golden light. 

Maturing later than the other Italian schools, 
Venice produced in the High Renaissance a brilliant 
galaxy of masters. Giorgione, by his glowing coloring, 
reminds us of Giovanni Bellini, but he is more ro- 
mantic, more sensitive to the picturesque than the 
older painter. Of quite a different order is the 
genius of Titian, consummate master of his art, who 
delighted in the normal aspects of man and nature. 
Tintoretto may be called the Venetian counterpart 
of Michelangelo, although he lacked the intellectual 
preoccupation of the great Florentine. Paolo Ve- 
ronese was a Venetian only by adoption, but his 
luminous color and love of pageantry are typical 
of the school. 

Mannerism, eclecticism, and extravagant realism 
characterize the three main groups of painters in the 
period of decline comprising the later half of the 
sixteenth century. There were men of genius in the 
Late Renaissance, but their desire to emulate or sur- 
pass the giants of the past led to over-refinement, 
mannered beauty, and affectations of style. Many 
artists copied the superficialities of Michelangelo’s 
vehement art, but failed to inform their imitations 
with the master’s spirit; the fascinating example of 
Correggio and Raphael led others astray. The 
mannerists were followed by the Bolognese school 
of eclectics who sought to revive art by combining 
the excellencies of their great predecessors. The Car- 
racci and their followers aimed at Michelangelo’s line, 

184 


meeeneessas 
> ARE, 
es OT 8 ee ei 


“een 





FIG. g6. VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED WITH SAINTS 
BY RAPHAEL 
PAINTED IN I1$04-05 FOR THE NUNS OF THE CONVENT 
OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA IN PERUGIA 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Titian’s color, Correggio’s chiaroscuro, and Raphael’s 
grace and skilful composition. These artists were 
learned men, highly gifted in many ways, but their 
self-conscious art was foredoomed to failure. Con- 
temporary with the eclectics, there flourished the 
naturalists with Caravaggio at their head. The 
revival of realistic observation, replacing parasitic 
dependence on the older masters, was in itself whole- 
some; these studies, however, were pursued with 
such extravagance and so little discrimination that 
the paintings of this school, facile in drawing but in- 
different in color,.often merit the charge of coarseness 
and brutality. 

Renaissance painting outside of Italy can be only 
briefly discussed. In France the influence of im- 
ported Italian painters in the sixteenth century was 
overwhelming, and few artists retained their in- 
dividuality and national character. Spain in the 
sixteenth century adopted very largely the Italian 
manner, but produced few masters of any importance. 
Decidedly the greatest artist in Spain at this period 
was the Venetian-trained Theotocopuli, known as 
E] Greco, whose highly personal art is characterized 
by intense emotionalism and an insistence on formal 
beauty even at the sacrifice of objective appearances. 
Two artists of unusual talent, Ribera and Zurbaran, 
were influenced by the Italian naturalism of the Late 
Renaissance. The Flemish painters of the  six- 
teenth century readily yielded allegiance to the new 
style, and the art of such painters as Mabuse and 
Van Orley presents a delightful if somewhat hybrid 
union of Gothic and Renaissance forms. Dutch and 
German painting followed the same development, 
although Germany produced two great masters of 

186 


RENAISSANCE ART 


exceptional merit, Albrecht Diirer and Hans Holbein 
the Younger. 

Throughout the fifteenth century and the early 
part of the sixteenth, miniature painting flourished 
in Flanders, France, and Italy. In the northern 
countries, naturally enough, the style was Gothic 
and strongly realistic, although ornament occasion- 
ally shows the influence of the classical revival. 
The two great French masters were Fouquet and 
Bourdichon. The development in Italy proceeded 
along much the same lines as in painting. In the 
general dissemination of the Renaissance style, min- 
lature painting outside of Italy began to lose its 
Gothic character, but before the new style had 
attained its full ascendancy in the north, the popu- 
larity of the printed book with engraved illustrations 
presented an overwhelming obstacle to further devel- 
opment. 

In the early years of the fifteenth century the 
pictorial woodcut makes its appearance in the form 
of popular devotional prints. With the invasion of 
the printed book, shortly after the middle of the 
century, the wood-engraver was soon called upon to 
furnish ornament and illustrations. Wood-engraving, 
independent of books, took on a new importance in the 
sixteenth century; the technique became more accom- 
plished, and in the engravings after such masters as 
Direr and Holbein attained extraordinary excellence. 
Engraving on metal appears to have been developed 
at a somewhat later date than the woodcut, but by 
the middle of the fifteenth century it was being prac- 
tised both in Germany and in Italy. The second 
half of the century is distinguished by the work of 
Martin Schongauer in Germany, and of Antonio Pol- 

187 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


laiuolo and Mantegna in Italy. During the sixteenth 
century the art reached its perfection in the work 
of Diirer. An Italian, Marcantonio Raimondi, 
opened a new field for the engraver by his repro- 
duction of the work of other artists. The popularity 
of these reproductive prints, which widely dissemi- 
nated the influence of the famous painters of the day, 
had a considerable effect upon the development of 
ornament. 

Although the Morgan Collection contains few 
Renaissance sculptures or paintings,? 1t 1s excep- 
tionally rich, on the other hand, in works of applied 
art in this style. This section of the collection is 
installed in Gallery F 8, and will be discussed in the 
following chapter. The development of the minor 
arts in Italy during the Renaissance period parallels 
that of the major arts. This is not unnatural, as 
there was then no false distinction between artist 
and artisan, as there is today; even the greatest 
masters did not find it beneath their dignity to work 
in the fields of applied art. 

In Italy, throughout the Renaissance, there was a 
flourishing production of small bronzes—statuettes, 
plaques, medals, and such utilitarian objects as ink- 
stands, andirons, candelabra, and mortars. Many 
gifted artists—among whom Antonio Briosco, called 
Il Riccio, holds a prominent place—devoted them- 
selves exclusively to these small bronzes. Copies in 
reduced size, more or less faithful, of classical statues 
were popular, and helped to spread the enthusiasm 
for the antique. These minor sculptures, in which 
the artist had only himself to please, furthermore 


2The most important of the paintings is the celebrated Colonna altar- 
piece by Raphael, exhibited in Gallery A 11. 


188 


RENAISSANCE ART 


afforded a valuable opportunity for experiment in 
realistic studies. The production of small bronze 
sculptures in Germany, Flanders, and France was 
less abundant than in Italy, and, on the whole, of a 
lower order. On the other hand, German and Flem- 
ish miniature carvers in the late fifteenth and the 
sixteenth century attained a remarkable skill in carv- 
ing pearwood, boxwood, and honestone (fig. Io01). 
Rosary beads gave the German wood-carver the 
chance to display an almost miraculous skill in 
microscopic carving; portrait medallions were also 
popular. In the Renaissance, ivory-carving lost 
the prominent position which it held among the 
minor arts of the Middle Ages. Although the craft 
was never a popular one in Italy, a considerable 
development took place in the north under the Em- 
briachi in the early years of the fifteenth century. 
The sixteenth century was largely a period of neglect 
everywhere, followed in Germany and Flanders by 
a revival of ivory-carving in the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries. 

Although furniture was by no means plentiful 
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there 
was a distinct advance toward comfort and luxury 
in all that pertained to the house. The influence of 
classical ornament and architectural forms became 
manifest in Italian furniture designs early in the 
fifteenth century. In the following century these 
motives became more elaborate and more classical 
in feeling, corresponding to the change in architec- 
tural design; elaborate carving was now substituted 
for the marquetry or painted decoration which had 
been favored in the earlier period. The spread of 
the Renaissance in the sixteenth century imposed 

189 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the characteristics of this style upon the furniture of 
other countries. But Gothic elements long persisted 
outside of Italy. French furniture (fig. 108) in the 
second half of the sixteenth century exhibits a dis- 
tinctly national style, combining classical motives in 
highly elaborate designs. Perhaps the most charac- 
teristic pieces are the richly carved cabinets known 
as dressoirs or armoires. 

Gothic characteristics continued in Italian eccle- 
siastical metalwork throughout the greater part 
of the fifteenth century, although from the middle 
years of the century ornament reminiscent of classical 
art became increasingly popular, and eventually, 
despite the conservatism of the Church, replaced 
the earlier motives. In secular metalwork the new 
style won an earlier victory. Enamels, pearls and 
precious stones, sculpture in relief or in the round 
added to the magnificence of effect in both ecclesias- 
tical and secular metalwork (figs. 92, 106, etc.). Re- 
naissance jewelry, which reached a high degree of ex- 
cellence in the sixteenth century, is characterized by 
exquisite workmanship, intricate openwork design, 
and the use of enamel in the setting of precious stones, 
pearls, cameos, and engraved gems. The most cele- 
brated of the Renaissance goldsmiths is undoubtedly 
Benvenuto Cellini, equally skilled in the arts of bra- 
vado, metalwork, sculpture, and autobiography. It 
is interesting to recall that the goldsmiths’ shops 
were the training schools for many of the greatest 
artists of the Renaissance. 

Ironwork, notably in Spain, continued to hold an 
important position among the crafts. Arms and 
armor represent some of the finest achievements of 
the metalworker in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 

1g0 


RENAISSANCE ART 


turies. The style throughout the fifteenth century 
is generally Gothic, although there was an occasional 
appearance in parade and jousting armor of classical 
ornament and of forms fantastically reminiscent of 
the antique. In the sixteenth century Renaissance 
ornament admitted but little rivalry. The decora- 
tion of armor in this period 
by etched, more rarely by 
stamped, and very rarely by 
embossed, designs is often 
of the highest quality, and 
received the attention of 
such distinguished artists 
as Leonardo, Cellini, Durer, 
and Holbein. 

In the second half of the 
fifteenth century, a new 
technique of painted enamel 
came into favor, replacing 
the translucent enamel ap- 
plied to relief carvings 
which had been popular, es- ace Lae 
pecially in Italy, during the ITALIAN, XVI CENTURY 
fourteenth and early fif- 
teenth centuries. The new process consisted of 
spreading the enamel over a copper base with a spa- 
tula or brush, without use of cloisons or depressions 
in the surface; both sides of the plaque were enameled 
to prevent cracking. Whether the technique origi- 
nated in Italy or France is still an open question, 
but its great development unquestionably took place 
in France in the ateliers of Limoges. Another form 
of enameling popular in the sixteenth century was 
that of encrusted enamel, in which metal objects in 

IgI 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the round or in high relief were coated with enamel; 
the process was much used by jewelers. 

The origin of painted enamel may perhaps be 
found in the ateliers of the glass painters. The 
technique of enamel painting on glass was known 
and practised in the late Gothic period, but not so 
extensively as in the sixteenth century, when painting 
played a part of ever-increasing 
prominence in the production of 
stained-glass windows, as the 
earlier mosaic type gradually 
lost favor. With this change 
in technique the design became 
more pictorial, and the craft 
entered on a long decline. 

In the making of glass ves- 
sels (fig. 98) Venice held a pre- 
eminent position, and her prod- 
ucts were widely exported over 
Europe. France, spammer 

Germany produced glass in the 
FIG. g8. GLASS GOBLET Panaigcance period, but could 
VENETIAN 
ABOUT 1500 not equal the finer Venetian 
wares. Painting under glass, a 
development of the gilt-glass technique, was prac- 
tised in the Renaissance, not only for small pendants 
but occasionally for panels of considerable size. 

The art of carving rock crystal (fig. 99) for beads 
and other objects, such as cups, ewers, and plaques, 
was carried to perfection by the Italians in the six- 
teenth century. Crystals were objects of great 
luxury, as the material was difficult to obtain in large, 
clear pieces. Amber was also highly esteemed by 
the Renaissance craftsmen. 





192 


RENAISSANCE ART 


The ceramic wares of the Renaissance represent a 
great advance over mediaeval productions. The char- 
acteristic Italian ware is known as majolica; it is 
an earthenware covered by a thin coating of opaque, 
stanniferous enamel. The productions of the nu- 
merous Italian ceramic centers may be divided into 
two classes: utilitarian, such as pharmacy pots; and 
decorative, comprising ornamental pieces known as 
piatti di pompa for the 
walls and_ sideboards. 
The painted decoration 
ot fifteenth-century 
Italian majolica is some- 
what naive in spirit, but 
highly effective as deco- 
tations 1) Lhe-character 
of the ornament chang- 
ed with the sixteenth 
century, when increased 
technical facility and the 





FIG. 99. CRYSTAL PLAQUE 
: BY GIOVANNI BERNARDI 
luxurious taste of the DA CASTEL BOLOGNESE 


High Renaissance led to 

the imitation of pictorial models and the subordina- 
tion of formal ornament. It was also in this period 
that the Medici factory at Florence, between 1574 
and 1587, made the earliest known European por- 
celain (fig. 109). France produced two important 
ceramic wares in the sixteenth century, the Palissy 
and the Henrt II, also called Saint-Porchaire (fig. go). 
These wares have been described on page 159. 

The preéminence of the Italian looms, which had 
held first place in Europe during the Middle Ages 
in the production of silk fabrics, was maintained 
throughout the Renaissance. Extraordinary skill is 


93 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


characteristic of the finest Renaissance embroider- 
ies; ‘“needle-painting” is an apt description. After 
the middle of the sixteenth century, ecclesiastical 
embroidery declinedin importance; on the other hand, 
secular patronage increased. The history of lace 
begins with the sixteenth century, both Flanders 
and Italy claiming priority. At first the leadership 
rested with Italy, but in the seventeenth century 
France closely rivaled the Venetian fabrics. In the 
actual production of tapestries, Italy played an in- 
conspicuous part in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies, but the success of Raphael’s cartoons for the 
Acts of the Apostles, first woven in 1515-18 at Brus- 
sels, the great center of tapestry-weaving, helped to 
bring about that revolution in taste which sub- 
stituted, to the detriment of the art, pictorial models 
for the decorative design of the Gothic weavers. 
Greatly superior to these “woven pictures” are the 
magnificent Flemish tapestries in the transitional 
Gothic-Renaissance style, dating from the close of 
the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century, a period 
which has appropriately been called the Golden Age 
of tapestry-weaving. 


”» 


194 


CHAPTER II 
GALLERY F 8 


Upon entering Gallery F 8, we first observe the 
stained glass, which comes from the ancient Abbey 
of Flavigny in eastern France. Two of the windows 
are completely filled by large compositions which 
represent in one instance the Deluge, and in the other, 
Moses and the Law.' In the remaining windows are 
four medallions of the Evangelists, presumably from 
windows of clear glass leaded in diaper patterns. 
The two large windows bear the dates 1531 and 1532; 
they and the medallions were made to the order of 
Wary de Lucy, the twenty-first Prior of Flavigny, 
and are in all probability by Valentin Bousch, cele- 
brated for his work in the cathedral at Metz. Re- 
naissance glass is seen at its best in these Flavigny 
windows. The coloring is brilliant but not garish; 
a liberal use of yellow with silvery brown and gray 
enhances the effect of the masses of ruby, sapphire, 
and emerald, so that these colors glow like jewels 
in settings of platinum and gold. Although more 
pictorial in character than early Gothic glass, the 
designer has kept a happy balance between the 
imitation of nature and the conventions essential to 


1A Crucifixion, of the same dimensions and from the same set, is now 
in a private collection in New York. 


195 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


good mural decoration. Furthermore, the leading is 
still expressive of the design and not, as it soon be- 
came, merely functional—hardly more than a means 
of holding the panes of glass together. 

Exhibited in the floor-cases, A and D, with occa- 
sional pieces in Cases B and C, is a remarkable col- 
lection of carvings in rock crystal, that precious, ice- 
like material so highly prized in the Middle Ages 
and Renaissance, not only for its beauty and rarity 
but also because it was supposed to have certain 
magical properties. Here are vases, cups, candle- 
sticks, a large platter, an altar-cross, and other ob- 
jects, mainly Italian in workmanship and dating 
from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. 
Elaborate mounts of gold or silver, often enriched 
with enamel and gems, are characteristic of these 
crystals, which were deemed worthy to serve as pres- 
ents between princes. One of the greatest rarities in. 
the collection is a signed work, an oval plaque repre- 
senting a battle scene (Case D) by the most famous 
crystal carver of the sixteenth century, Giovanni Ber- 
nardi da Castel Bolognese (fig. gg) Assigned to the 
same artist is the handsome pax (Case C) with a 
scene of the Crucifixion engraved on a rectangular 
crystal plaque. In Case B is a Spanish shrine com- 
posed of a jeweled base supporting an octagonal 
piece of crystal, which encloses a Crucifixion group 
wrought in gold and enamel; another Spanish piece 
in this case is a small portable reliquary of rock crys- 
tal and enameled gold, representing Christ bound 
to the column, which is said to have come from the 
treasury of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compos- 
tella. A second signed work in the collection is a 
crystal shrine enriched with gold and enamel (Case 

196 


GALLERY F 8 


A) by the Fleming, Adam van Vianen (fig. 100). The 
magnificent ewer (Case D), engraved with scenes 
from the life of Apollo, is probably the work of the 
Sarachi brothers, crystal carvers of Milan, who made 
for the Duchess of Savoy the splendid casket now in 
the Escurial; Giovanni Battista 
Croce, the goldsmith who col- 
laborated with the Sarachi on 
this occasion, may well be the 
author of the satyr’s head in 
enameled gold which forms part 
of the handle of the Morgan 
ewer. Exquisite in design as in 
workmanship 1s a little crystal 
casket in Case C, dating from 
the early years of the - six 
teenth century. Two fantastic 
vases in the form of winged 
monsters, in Case D, deserve a 
word in passing as characteris- 
tic Late Renaissance examples. 
In the same case are several fine 
pieces of amber, a favorite ma- — FIG. 100. CRYSTAL 

terial with the German artificer Bah aie beeuer ta 

. A VAN VIANEN 

in precious materials. One of 

the most important is a late sixteenth-century shell- 
shaped cup within which is a little figure of a sleep- 
ing amorino; it is supported by a stem of wrought 
gold representing the Tree of Good and Evil; this 
piece was at one time in the Farnese Collection. 

At the north end of the gallery are two wall-cases 
(E and F) containing carvings in boxwood and hone- 
stone. With few exceptions these rare objects, com- 
prising rosary beads, small shrines, caskets, mirror- 


ae 











THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


frames, statuettes, plaques, and portrait medallions, 
are of Flemish or German origin, and date prin- 
cipally from the sixteenth century. The astonish- 
ing skill which the northern artist lavished on these 
tiny sculptures is perhaps best exemplified in the 
beads (used as terminals to hang at the ends of 
rosaries) which, when opened, reveal scenes from the 
Life and Passion of Christ, carved with incredible, 
microscopic fineness. During the late fifteenth and 
the early sixteenth century, Flanders excelled in the 
production of these “prayer-nuts”’ or “pater nosters”’ 
of which several are in the collection. Small shrines 
(fig. 101) in diptych or triptych form were also adorned 
with miniature carvings; a notable example is the 
Flemish diptych, once owned by Queen Christina of 
Spain, representing the Nativity and the Mass of 
Saint Gregory. 

Other relief carvings in boxwood include a French 
sixteenth-century mirror-frame of elaborate design, 
probably derived from the work of the Frisian painter 
known in France as Jean Vredeman de Vriese; a 
small German casket with emblematic subjects of a 
masonic character; and several German panels of the 
sixteenth century with legendary or genre subjects, 
among which may be noted a long, narrow panel 
with a battle scene, another depicting Venus and 
Vulcan, and a portrait panel of Ludwig Raab of 
Ulm, signed A. H. B. There are also several por- 
trait medallions in boxwood and honestone, which 
illustrate the admirable skill of the German carver 
in this field of sculpture. We may note the boxwood 
medallion, dated 1538, of Barbara Reihingin, by Hans 
Kels von Kaufbeuren, and the medallion in honestone 
of Hieronymus Holtzschuler by Peter Fl6tner. The 

198 


GALLERY F 8 


skill displayed in the composition and modeling of 
these miniature portraits is of high order. 

Boxwood was also much used in Germany for 
sculpture in the round. Highly polished and ranging 
in color from ruddy gold to deep brown, these carv- 
ings take the place, in a 
a way, of the small | 
bronzes so popular in 
Renaissance Italy. One 
of the most striking 
pieces in the Morgan 
Collection, which in- 
cludes a representative 
group of these boxwood 
sculptures in the round, 
is a representation of 
Death as a skeleton rid- 
ing astride a sorry nag 
(Case E). Death wasa 
favorite subject with the 
sixteenth-century Ger- 
Manmeeartist, Tecall,’ for 
-example, Holbein’s de- 
signs for the Dance of FIG. IOI. BOXWOOD SHRINE 
Death. In the spirit of FLEMISH, EARLY XVI 
these famous woodcuts Be sas 
is the rosary, in Case I, composed of six ivory beads 
—or rather, oval plaques—each of which is carved 
on one face to represent a man or a woman while on 
the opposite side 1s the grim ““Sunderer of Societies.”’ 
_A single terminal bead of this type, composed of a 
“man, a woman, and a skeleton, is shown in the same 
Gase! 

Two large honestone reliefs, exhibited on the wall 


ne 














THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


near Case G, are pieces of notable importance. By 
an anonymous German sculptor of the sixteenth 
century is the panel with scenes from the martyrdom 
of Saint John the Baptist. In the foreground, the 
executioner hands the head to Salome; in the back- 
ground other incidents are depicted in an ornate 
architectural setting of Re- 
naissance) character ausne 
complication of the design, 
accentuated by the gilding of 
details, is a fault to which the 
German sculptor of this pe- 
riod was prone. Of greater 
artistic interest is the large 
panel by Hans Dauer or 
Daucher, signed with the in- 
itials Fl, D.ands datecary 22, 
of the Triumph of Charles V 
(fig. 103). Attended by al- 
lied sovereigns and by the 
Empress with the ladies of 
her court, the Emperor rides 
across a bridge upon which 
a triumphal arch is erected. The relief shows the 
exquisite delicacy of execution for which the artist 
is renowned, and in the careful rendering of the de- 
tails of costume and accessories 1s a picturesque 
record of the pageantry in which the Renaissance 
delighted. By the same artist, although after a de- 
sign by Direr, is the small honestone plaque (Case F) 
of a nude woman seen from the back. 

On the opposite side of the doorway are two at- 
tractive Italian reliefs in marble. One, a Lombard 
sculpture of the late fifteenth century recalling the 

200 





FIG. 102. CHALICE 
GERMAN, 160g 


GALLERY F 8 


style of Mantegazza, represents with an abundance 
of pictorial detail the Adoration of the Magi. The 
subject of the other is Eurydice; this graceful female 
figure, carved practically in the round, is perhaps 
by Antonio Lombardo, or possibly by Il Mosca, 
another sculptor of the Venetian school. Between 
Cases E and F stands a mutilated but impressive 





FIG. 103. TRIUMPH OF CHARLES V 
BY HANS DAUER, 1§22 


terracotta from the workshop of Verrocchio, a kneel- 
ing figure of the Magdalen. 

Over-decoration is a not uncommon trait in the 
work of the German craftsman. This criticism cer- 
tainly applies to the gem-studded chalice with the 
arms of Wolf-Metternich, dated 1609, which 1s shown 
in the nearby pedestal-case (fig. 102). It is only fair 
to remember, however, that this chalice was designed 
to be seen not in a museum case but in the light of 
candles flickering on an altar. Then, held high in 
the hands of the priest, the sacred vessel, blazing 
with jewels and the crisp sparkle of golden tracery, 
would have seemed itself a living thing, glorifying 
the miracle it enshrined. 

201 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The fashion for jewelry in the Renaissance was 
different from our own in several respects. In the 
first place, jewelry was worn as conspicuously and 
often as lavishly by men as by women. Secondly, 
the Renaissance made comparatively little use of the 
diamond. When it was employed, the stone was 
simply cut, and not over-faceted into that modern 
scintillating abomination which has contributed 
more than any other cause to the decline of the jewel- 
er’s art. In Renaissance jewelry, the exquisite craft 
of the metalworker and enameler is never subordi- 
nated to the gem; the latter is frequently only a 
secondary feature of the design. Thirdly, since jew- 
elry meant something more than mere sparkle to 
the Renaissance artificer and his client, the scale is 
often larger than is considered in “good taste” to- 
day. This larger scale permitted the goldsmith to 
rival the sculptor in miniature work which often 
achieved plastic beauty of great distinction. Further- 
more, it may be observed that jewelry of this kind 
was admirably in keeping with the sumptuous cos- 
tumes affected by both sexes. Indeed, if we would 
do justice to Renaissance jewelry, it is essential to 
think of it not as museum specimens, but as the ac- 
cessories of splendid dress. 

Cases B and C contain most of the Renaissance 
jewels in the Morgan Collection. By jewels, it 
may be remarked incidentally, is meant not only 
jewelry in the sense of personal ornaments, such as 
pendants, rings, and necklaces, but other small 
objects of a precious character, ecclesiastical as well 
as secular. The pendants form a numerous group. 
They are mainly Italian and of the sixteenth century. 
A popular type in the Late Renaissance was the 

202 


GALLERY F 8 


pendant in animal form; note, for example, in Case 
B the swan composed of a large baroque pearl, and 
the little blue monkey of enameled gold. The mer- 
maid was also a favorite motive; a quaint example is 
in Case C (fig. 104). Perhaps the strangest jewel in 
the collection—surely the rarest—is a large pendant 
of ambergris and enameled gold in the form of a 
negress (Case C). When worn, 
the heat of the wearer’s body 
would cause the ambergris to give 
forth an agreeable odor. Many 
of the most beautiful pendants— 
exquisitely wrought in gold, to 
which pearls and precious stones 
add a further magnificence—are 
purely formal in design. The in- 
tricate “lantern jewel” of Ger- 
man workmanship in Case B is 
a masterpiece of this kind. Ital- 
lanate in character but French in 
origin is the superb jewel (Case C) FIG. 104. JEWEL 
in the form of a rectangular eros & 
° XVI CENTURY 

plaque of gold, encrusted with 
enamel and studded with gems, which represents 
Prudence with the mirror symbolic of reflection and 
the serpent typifying wisdom; the mirror is ingen. 
iously fashioned from a single, square-cut diamond 
(fig. 105). Other pendent jewels illustrated in the col- 
lection include portrait medallions in carved shell or 
in gold and enamel (note in Case C the portrait of 
Charles V, attributed to Leone Leoni [fig. 93]); min- 
lature paintings under crystal; crosses in gold and 
enamel; and small reliquaries in various forms. With 
these pendants may be mentioned the badges of the 

203 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Orders of the Annunziata and of Saint Michel, and 
the golden chain of the Order of Grace made about 
1600 for Christian II of Saxony. 

It is impossible in the brief space available to de- 
scribe every object in these crowded treasure cases. 
It must suffice merely to mention the wax portraits, 
the little caskets in crystal and verre eglomisé, the 
seals and rings, the rosary-beads in enameled gold, 
and such oddities as the statuette 
composed of many-colored mar- 
bles, and the beautifully enam- 
eled trictrac board (Case C) 
which is believed to have be- 
longed to Mary, Queen of Scots. 

Mention has already been 
made of the crystal pax (Case C) 
by Giovanni Bernardi da Castel 
Bolognese. Not less beautiful is 
the remarkable silver-gilt pax 
(Case B), with the relief of the 
Flagellation in gold upon a 
painted enamel background, at- 
tributed to Filarete, or with greater probability, to 
Moderno. This pax (fig. 106) was made for Cardinal 
Giovanni Borgia (died 1502), the Archbishop of 
Monreale, and came from the Cathedral of Tarazona, 
near Borja, the original home of the Borgias. A third 
pax (fig. 97) of signal importance (Case C) is of silver- 
gilt, richly ornamented on the back as well as the 
front with cameos carved with scenes from the life 
of Our Lord, enframing a niello plaque, somewhat 
earlier in date, representing the Adoration of the 
Magi. Less sumptuous in effect but excellent ex- 
amples of their kind are two paxes in Case B; one 

204 





FIG. I10$. PRUDENCE 
FRENCH) XVi CENTURY 


GALLERY uF 5 


with a painting under glass of the Assumption of the 
Virgin, the other with the Pieta in painted enamel. 
A finer example of painting under glass is the trip- 
tych in Case C; the enameled silver-gilt frame is 
particularly well designed. With these ecclesiastical 
“jewels”’ must be mentioned the reliquary in Case B 
which belonged to Cardinal, later dab Albert 
of Austria. In the center 
is a large sapphire engraved 
with the Crucifixion; this is 
a rare Byzantine gem of the 
eleventh or twelfth century. 
Above it is a mediaeval carv- 
ing in amethyst, represent- 
ing the head of the Savior. 
The small gold cross, sur- 
mounting the reliquary, is 
attributed to the eleventh or 
twelfth century. According 
to tradition these three pre- 
cious objects came from the be OA dt iss 
treasury of the Cathedral of MADE FOR CARDINAL 
Oviedo in Spain. The set- Gavia Ak ewe te: 
ting is a rather tawdry Spanish work in silver-gilt 
of the early seventeenth century, except for the foot 
which was probably added to the piece in Flanders. 
The most famous goldsmith of the Renaissance is 
the incomparable, swashbuckling genius, Benvenuto 
Cellini. Whether or not the splendid jasper cup 
(fig. 92), exhibited on a pedestal between Cases C and 
D, may be accepted as the work of Cellini’s own 
hand is perhaps a question; but in any case it is un- 
mistakably in his style and a masterpiece of excep- 
tional beauty, notable for the skill with which the 
205 





THE PIERPONT MOKGAN WING 


elaborate gold mounts, enameled and set with gems 
and pearls, have been designed to enhance the effec- 
tiveness of the precious material from which the bowl 
is fashioned. 

If the visitor will now return to the center of the 
gallery, where a polychromed terracotta model for a 
fountain by Giovanni Bologna occupies a pedestal 
case, he will find opposite him against the west wall a 
French Renaissance chest above which are a marble 
frieze in the style of Tullio Lombardo, an embroidered 
altar frontal, and a large armorial tondo in glazed 
terracotta by Giovanni della Robbia, the nephew 
ot Andrea, whose gracious style, although in a work- 
shop production, is exemplified in the charming 
relief of the Virgin in Adoration, shown nearby. On 
either side of the tondo hang small tapestries forming 
a set of six with scenes from the life of Christ, which 
were woven in Alsace between 1592 and 1600 from 
cartoons after Schongauer, Durer, and his school. 
We come now to the exhibits, mainly of metalwork, 
shown in the wall-cases. 

Portuguese art is so scantily represented outside 
the land in which it was produced that its extent and 
artistic importance are not sufficiently appreciated by 
the general public. Nevertheless, the arts flourished 
in the little kingdom, especially in the period of na- 
tional expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies, when from the Portuguese possessions in 
South America, Africa, and Asia flowed a dazzling 
stream of wealth. Masterpieces of goldsmiths’ work 
in Portugal in the opulent days of the sixteenth cen- 
tury are the four large dishes of silver-gilt,? exhibited 
in Case G. Elaborately chased in high relief with 

2A fifth is exhibited in Gallery F 9. . 
206 


GALLERY F 8 


such subjects as the story of Samson and Delilah (fig. 
107) or of Judith and Holofernes, these magnifi- 
cent pieces are among the finest examples of Renais- 
sance metalwork in the collection. In the same case 
are several necklaces and bracelets of gold filigree, 
enriched with enamel, typical productions of the 
skilled Moorish artificers of Spain in the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries. The prosperity of Spain in 





FIG. 107. SILVER-GILT DISH 
PORTUGUESE, XVI CENTURY 


the sixteenth century is reflected in the sumptuous 
pair of stirrups decorated with cloisonné and champ- 
levé enamels; but for beauty of form and exquisite 
decoration in the taste of the High Renaissance none 
of the metalwork in this case is superior to the gilt- 
bronze ewer shaped by some Venetian craftsman of 
the sixteenth century. 

Conspicuous in Case H are two richly ornamented 
German clocks in gilt-bronze of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. One is probably the work of an unidentified 
Augsburg master; the other is assigned to Andreas 

207 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Muller of Tristen. Two other German Renaissance 
clocks will be found in Case M. 

Returning to Case H, two stoneware jugs with 
chased and parcel-gilt silver mounts are notable 
specimens of a type of vessel extremely popular in 
Elizabethan England. One has the London hall- 
mark of 1577; the other may be dated in the last 
quarter of the sixteenth century; the jugs were prob- 
ably imported from Germany. Three tall silver-gilt 
tankards are characteristic examples of the dextrous 
work of the German craftsman in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Drinking-vessels 1n a great variety of forms 
constitute perhaps the principal productions of the 
Renaissance goldsmith of the north. A popular type 
is the double cup, of which a good example is shown 
in Case H. In this case is also a tabernacle door in 
copper-gilt by Pietro Paulo Romano, an Italian sculp- 
tor of the Late Renaissance. 

Ivories and small bronzes compose most of the ex- 
hibits in Case I. Although ivory was not so popular 
a material for sculpture in the sixteenth century as in 
the Gothic period (see page 18g), it was not allowed 
to fall completely into disuse. Statuettes were still 
carved in this beautiful substance, as we may note in 
the engaging little figure of Saint Mary Magdalen, a 
typical work of French sculpture in the early six- 
teenth century. Other specimens in this case show 
the use of ivory for portrait medallions, rosary beads, 
and for the sheaths and handles of knives. The 
bronzes are few in number but of fine quality. To 
the school of Donatello is assigned the earliest of 
these sculptures, a plaque in low relief representing 
the Flagellation. The Venetian sculptors of the 
High Renaissance were accomplished workers in 

208 


GALLERY FE 8 


bronze. A characteristic example of this school is 
the circular plaque by Alessandro Leopardi, repre- 
senting Elijah in the fiery chariot; extremely effec- 
tive in producing a rich play of light and shade are 
the variations in surface texture and the skilful com- 








FIG. 108. CABINET, STYLE OF SAMBIN 
FRENCH, XVI CENTURY 


bination of low and high relief. Also Venetian of the 
sixteenth century are a bronze door-knocker in the 
form of two marine deities, and a candlestick inlaid 
with silver in designs inspired by the metalwork of 
the Near East, a fashion growing out of the com- 
mercial relations of Venice with the Orient. 

209 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Flanked by two French cabinets of elaborate Re- 
Naissance design, one in the style of Sambin, the 
other in the style of Ducerceau, the next wall-case, 
J, presents a group of eight examples of the Venetian 
blue and white painted enamels of the late fifteenth 
or sixteenth century, with a characteristic enrich- 
ment in gold; the collection comprises ewers, covered 
cups, dishes, and reliquaries. Similar in decoration, 
although less elaborately pat- 
terned, are the examplesugs 
Venetian white glass exhibited 
in this case. Three remarkable 
examples of the rare enameled 
blue glass made at Venice to- 
ward the close of the fifteenth 
century and in the early ome 
teenth are shown in a pedestal 
case between Cases L and M. 
In beauty of form and orna- 
mentation, and in clearness of 

FIG. 109. EWER the glass, the Venetian produc- 

eter ee See) tions are superior to any manu- 
factured elsewhere in Europe at this time. Italy 
may also claim priority in the manufacture of por- 
celains. The earliest known European porcelain of 
which examples have survived to us was made at 
Florence between 1574 and 1587 under the patronage 
of Francesco I de’ Medici. Of this rare Medici por- 
celain, of which hardly more than thirty pieces are 
known, the two ewers decorated with arabesque 
designs in blue on a white ground, exhibited in Case 
J, are characteristic specimens (fig. 109). 

The cases along the window wall continue the 
collection of metalwork. The art of the Spanish 

210 





GALLERY F 8 


goldsmith is exemplified by two magnificent pieces 
in Case K. One is a massive rose-water dish, origi- 
nally accompanied by a ewer, of silver-gilt decorated 
with a bold repoussé design of foliated scrolls, masks, 
and cartouches, and with small applied panels of 
enameled arabesques. In the raised 
center is an enameled shield with 
the arms of Castile, Leon, and 
France. This fine dish dates from 
the early years of the seventeenth 
century. [he other piece 1s a chal- 
ice of silver-gilt, ornamented with 
Y-shaped applied panels of enamel 
in delicate designs, which bears the 
Makers name, LVIS, and was 
made, probably at Cordova, in the 
second half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Two large Nuremberg double 
cups, although of the late sixteenth 
century, retain Gothic characteris- 
tics, especially noticeable in the 
crisply curling foliage of the stems 
(fig. 110). The cups fit over each 
Betemateticeupeand, thus joined... av neurviiier 
were placed as an ornament on the THE ELDER 

buffet or sideboard when not in ac- NUREMBERG 

tual usceelhe banqueting rooms =~ ~~ 

of the German and Netherlandish merchant princes 
and of the numerous trade guilds and other asso- 
ciations which abounded in these northern lands 
‘must have presented a brave appearance when 
decked forth not only with the ordinary standing 
cups which served for the “business at hand” but 
also with prize cups and other ornamental vessels 

211 





BiGwe! Ole OBL 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


of elaborate and often fantastic design. An exam- 
ple of the latter type is the covered cup in the 
torm of a globe upheld by a Satyr or Pan, and sur- 
mounted by a little figure of Neptune. This curious 
cup, which was at one time in the famous “‘Green 
Vaults” at Dresden, is by Urban 
Schneeweiss of Dresden, a deft 
craftsman who worked in the sec- 
ond half of the sixteenth century. 
Shown in the same case is an as- 
tronomical globe made at Vienna 
in 1579; it is an admirable exam- 
ple of the elaborately ornamented 
astronomical instruments of the 
Renaissance. With just a brief 
mention of the delightful covered 
cup supported by three kneeling 
jesters, which was presented, 
probably by a certain Master An- 
thony, to the fishing club at In- 
golstadt on the Danube (fig. 113), 
we must pass on to Case L. 
Here are three remarkable ex- 
FIG. I1I.. NIELLO . amples’ of thesomialien( + salen 
CUP, AUGSBURG : 
okt eee nut, conch, and nautilus shell cups 
for which the Renaissance crafts- 
man of the north had a decided partiality. The 
two shell cups date from the second half of the 
sixteenth century. The earliest is a conch shell 
banded with silver-gilt strips studded with Roman 
denarii. Somewhat later is the nautilus cup, with 
a stem formed by a figure of Hercules and with 
dolphins and sea monsters applied to the foot; this 
cup is the work of Caspar Bendel of Breslau, who 
212 








PEG ae Po. COVERED FIG. D3: COVERED 
CUP, STYLE OF CUP, GERMAN 


HANS(?) JAM- XVI CENTURY 
NITZER, NUREMBERG 


ABOUT 1580 





FIG. 114. CASKET 
AUGSBURG, XVI CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


flourished between 1578 and 1596. To the end of 
the sixteenth or early seventeenth century may be 
assigned a cocoanut-shell cup carved with biblical 
scenes and richly mounted in silver-gilt. Ostrich 
eggs were also used for these display pieces, and a fine 
seventeenth-century example of this type as well as 
other nautilus and shell cups will be found in Gallery 
F 9. Two of the most magnificent covered cups in 
the collection are shown with the shell cups in Case L. 
One is a tall cup, with a fanciful vase-shaped stem, 
richly repoussé with small figures, bosses, masks, and 
other decorative motives; on the cover is represented 
a stag hunt. This beautifully proportioned cup was 
wrought at Nuremberg about 1550 by the master 
craftsman, Jacob Frohlich. In the style of Hans (?) 
Jamnitzer of Nuremberg, dating about 1580, is a: 
second elaborately ornamented cup (fig. 112). The 
cylindrical body, lobed at the top, with six bosses at 
the junction with the stem, is decorated with scenes 
in low relief of classical subjects; the cover is sur- 
mounted by a tiny statuette of Jupiter grasping a 
thunderbolt. A characteristic product of the Augs- 
burg goldsmiths is the copper-gilt casket (fig. 114), 
ornamented with scenes of the Passion and figures of 
saints wrought in silver. Another Augsburg work of 
the sixteenth century is the acorn-shaped covered 
cup (fig. 111), decorated with arabesques in niello on 
silver in the manner of Peter Flétner, and supported 
by a stem in the form of a tree-trunk carried on the 
back of an old peasant woman. 

In Case K we noted two large double cups which 
are reminiscent in style of Gothic metalwork. Quite 
different in character is the double cup in Case M, 
shown with the cups separated; in this late sixteenth- 

214 


GALLERY F 8 


century German piece the ornamentation is thor- 
oughly in the style of the belated northern Renais- 
sance, abounding with cherub heads, cupids standing 
on dolphins and scallop shells, terminal figures, strap- 
work, arabesques, and fleurs-de-lis. Similar in style 
is the tall standing cup with cover, made by Eber- 
wein Kossmann of Nuremberg about 1575. The 
two German clocks exhibited in this case are re- 
markable examples of the elaborately ornamented 
timepieces marking the hours, months, saints’ days, 
lunar months, years, and courses of heavenly bodies, 
which must have been among the most precious pos- 
sessions of the Renaissance amateur. The decora- 
tion on the dome of one of these clocks is after a print 
by Aldegrever; that of the base, after Beham. Not 
all the exhibits in this case are German, however, as 
Italian goldsmiths are responsible for the beautifully 
engraved paten, or salver, from the Abbey of Feren- 
tino, and for the six little angels of enameled gold 
(although for the latter a Spanish origin is not out of 
the question). The metalwork collection is con- 
tinued in the next gallery. 


218 





Pekan oC oH A RL 
eraverL +t 
ee eeN Dea RY, 











hua BP TIGRS 
INTRODUCTION 


In the following chapters, which deal with the dec- 
orative arts of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies, a complete survey of European art in this 
period has not been attempted. Since the arts of 
western Europe, at least in their main tendencies, 
followed the lead of France at this time, it has seemed 
wiser to utilize the available space in giving a sum- 
mary, as complete as possible, of the development 
of French art during these centuries in relation to its 
cultural and social environment. A further reason for 
pursuing this course is afforded by the circumstance 
that with few exceptions the exhibits in the galleries 
to be described hereafter are of French origin. 

To understand the development of the arts, par- 
ticularly of the industrial arts, during the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, it 1s necessary to 
consider to some extent the enormous political and 
Social changes then taking place in Europe. The 
events that shifted the trading centers from the 
Adriatic and the mouth of the Rhine to the Atlantic 
seaboard play as great a part in the history of furni- 
ture, for instance, as the inventive genius of any or 
all of the great craftsmen of the Louvre and of the 
Gobelins. It is useless, therefore, to try to under- 

219 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


stand the work of the seventeenth-century craftsmen, 
whether made for the French court in all its splendor 
or for the edification of the worthy dourgeoisie, unless 
we know something of the part Louis XIV was play- 
ing in Europe or of the social circumstances which 
caused the man of humbler position to want the 
things he did. 

When mediaeval culture gave place to humanism 
and its attendant revival of interest in classical forms 
of artistic expression, the artists of the north turned 
more and more to Italy for their inspiration. By 
the middle of the sixteenth century, Italy had be- 
come the acknowledged center of the artistic world, 
although it had now lost its political independence. 
In the second half of the sixteenth century, Venice 
and Genoa were the only independent common- 
wealths left; the rest of the country, either directly 
or indirectly, was under the domination of Spain. 
That Italy maintained its primacy in the arts so long 
under these conditions was due partly to the con- 
tinuing momentum of the Renaissance movement, 
partly to a new source of patronage. The Counter- 
Reformation and the support of Spain had reéstab- 
lished the prestige of the Papacy. Its official 
recognition of the Society of Jesus in 1540 marked 
the beginning of a movement to develop the worldly 
power and importance of the Church by every pos- 
sible means, including a liberal support of the arts. 
For several decades prior to 1606, when Venice finally 
fell under the control of Paul V, the intellectual and 
artistic life of Italy was centered in Rome. But 
the rule of the Vatican, under the domination of a 
foreign power—superficial and extremely reactionary 
in spirit—was fundamentally inimical to progressive 

220 


FRENCH ART, XVII CENTURY 


social and artistic life, and the leadership passed 
inevitably into other hands. 

With the annihilation of the Spanish Armada in 
1588 the Spanish Hapsburg mastery of western 
Europe came to an end. Over-expansion, the loss of 
naval supremacy, and the defection of the Low 
Countries had by this time spelt the economic ruin of 
Spain. The expulsion in 1610 of the Christianized 
Moors, who formed the backbone of her industrial 
population, left the Spaniards, not naturally an in- 
dustrial people, commercially impotent. By the end 
of the seventeenth century Spain had become merely 
the political plaything of France and Austria. In 
central Europe the Empire fell to pieces with the 
abdication of Charles V. Germany, split by the 
Protestant Revolution, was a prey to the weakness 
inherent in an agglomeration of semi-independent, 
badly organized principalities. The drain of religious 
war, the shifting of the trade centers westward, and 
the ruin of the great south German banking houses 
put an end to the economic power of the Rhine valley. 
For similar reasons the Hanseatic League had also 
fallen into a decline, while in Hapsburg Austria a 
period of anarchy was followed by the disasters of the 
Thirty Years’ War. Only after the Turks were finally 
driven from Hungary at the end of the century was 
the new Austria-Hungary able to play an important 
part in western Europe. 

In the north, however, the end of the sixteenth 
century saw the birth of two new maritime powers. 
_ The repressive policy of Spain, after much horrible 
warfare, resulted in 1579 in the Union of Utrecht, by 
which Holland, under the leadership of the princes 
of Orange, declared herself separated from Spain and 

221 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the Catholic Low Countries. Owing to their mari- 
time development, the United Netherlands secured 
for themselves the commercial birthright that had 
long been the possession of the great mediaeval cities 
of Bruges and Ghent. As the center of Protestant- 
ism and of overseas commerce, the Dutch nation 
was already during the first half of the seventeenth 
century an important factor in European politics. 

Under the firm hand of her Tudor monarchs, Eng- 
land had enjoyed the benefits of almost a century of 
internal peace. Cut off from Rome, and saved from 
Spanish domination and the embroilments of conti- 
nental politics by wise statesmanship and a fortunate 
geographical position, she was laying the founda- 
tions for future world power. Her merchant ad- 
venturers of the late sixteenth century had already 
entered into keen competition with the Dutch for the 
mastery of the seas, and were turning the popular 
imagination toward the possibilities of wealth and 
power beyond the ocean. The rapid development of 
the arts and letters and of a national culture which 
had started so splendidly with the Elizabethan Re- 
naissance was checked, however, and overshadowed 
during most of the seventeenth century by the great 
constitutional struggle between King and Parliament. 
This prevented the nation from playing more than a 
secondary part in the affairs of western Europe until 
the accession of William of Orange ended the mari- 
time struggle with Holland and nullified the political 
influence of France over the English crown. 

Of most immediate import to western Europe, how- 
ever, was the social and political reorganization of 
France begun by Henri IV and his able minister, 
Sully, after the anarchy of the religious wars of the 

222 


PRENCH ART, XVIE CENTURY 


League. Religious toleration, economic reform, and 
the encouragement of commerce were accompanied 
by systematic efforts to revive the arts, not merely 
by indirect means, but also by royal patronage and 
the protection of artists and craftsmen, who were 
lodged at royal expense in the Louvre. The assas- 
sination of Henri IV in } 
1610 put an end, tempo- 
rarily, to the prosecution 
of this far-sighted policy, 
but fourteen years later 
the work was again un- 
dertaken by Richelieu. 
Under the guidance of 
the great Cardinal and of 
his astute successor, Ma- 
zarin, not only was 
France secured from for- 
eign interference, but the 
French king also became 
the absolute and unques- 
tioned master of his sub- FIG. IIS. ARM-CHATR 
gects. On the death of LOUIS XIV PERIOD 
Mazarin in 1661, Louis 
XIV himself assumed the reins of government, and 
with the aid of his famous minister, Colbert, under- 
took to carry out the whole of the program intro- 
duced by his grandfather. With the political 
foundation already laid, he was so far successful 
that by the last quarter of the seventeenth century 
the court of Versailles was the center of European 
society, and the Sun King the most powerful individ- 
ual figure of his time. 

The fiscal reforms instituted by Colbert had tripled 

223 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the income of the government which, in spite of the 
enormous disbursements of the court, remained sol- 
vent under his able financial administration. The 
decade 1680-16go marks the high-water mark of the 
glory of Louis XIV. Colbert died in 1683, and two 
years later the country was maimed by the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes, which drove large numbers of 
her most skilled artisans out of the country, to the 
great enrichment of England and Holland. The 
thirty years that followed, though the outward gran- 
deur largely remained, constituted a period of decline 
and transition, the characteristics of which will be 
noted later. 

France, then, was supreme among the nations. The 
policy of centralization secured her from danger of 
internal schism, and left all the awakened national en- 
ergy free for self-development and expression around 
the person of her king. According to the political 
philosophy of her rulers it was not fitting that the 
arts should be an accidental and individual affair, 
but their regulation and development should be a 
function of the state with a dual end in view: first, to 
provide a setting proper to the glory of the head of 
the state, and secondly, to aid in making that glory 
permanent through commercial prosperity. Although 
there are indications of this policy in the sixteenth 
century, seventeenth-century France was the first to 
assert this principle on so universal a scale. 

The political and economic developments which re- 
sulted in the supremacy of France in the seventeenth 
century necessarily modified profoundly the social 
and intellectual life of the people. Early in the 
century, the engravings of Abraham Bosse show us 
a comfortable dourgeoisie enjoying the fruits of com- 

224 


PRE CHART, XVIT CENTURY: 


merce in a quiet and conventional existence under 
the religious and civil peace of Henri IV. From this 
milieu came some of the most powerful figures of the 
century. The nobility, distracted and impoverished 
more than the dourgeoisie by the wars of the fifteenth 
and the sixteenth century, had hardly taken breath 
before the disturbances of the Fronde gave Mazarin 
his great opportunity to put an end to their active 
political importance. The energy thus barred from 
its customary occupation found outlet in a sort of 
fashionable intellectualism exemplified by the salon 
of the Marquise de Rambouillet. 

The literature through which the new society was 
to find both its champion and its satirist was domi- 
nated at first by the Spain of Cervantes, or more ex- 
actly by the literature which Cervantes satirized. 
But the influence of the theater soon became para- 
mount. Starting with the Italian comedy, a per- 
fected dramatic form was developed with surprising 
rapidity through the genius of Corneille, Moliére, . 
and Racine. Almost at the same time the writings 
of Blaise Pascal, inspired by the philosophical meth- 
ods of Descartes and by the ascetic religious fervor 
of the Janssenists, set the standard for modern French 
prose—a clear, terse, brilliant vehicle in contrast to 
the profuse and loosely connected style of the previ- 
ous century. The outstanding figure in the philoso- 
phy of the seventeenth century is René Descartes, 
with whom we have the real beginning of scientific 
reasoning; “I think, therefore I am”’ was the starting 
point of his search for truth which profoundly influ- 
enced the development of modern philosophy and 
science. The writings of Mme. de Sévigné, the Duc 
de la Rochefoucauld, and St. Evrémond foretell the 

226 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


eighteenth-century development of de//es lettres; and, 
in the pulpit, the weighty periods of Bossuet offer a 
literary parallel to the pompous funerary monuments 
of the time. 

In the theater and in pageantry the age of Louis 
XIV found its true literary expression. As Henri 
Havard has pointed out, a love of allegory, pageantry, 
and self-dramatization is the very essence of the 
seventeenth-century spirit. The tendency to empha- 
size type to the exclusion of complex individuali- 
ties is evident in all of the great dramatic work of the 
mid-seventeenth century. This goes hand in hand 
with the poetic tendency to identify great personages 
with the gods and heroes of classical mythology. 
From the union of these two ideas sprang the iconog- 
raphy which identified Louis XIV with the sun god. 
Apollo, and enabled the great artists of the century 
to utilize the now familiar classical motives in rep- 
resenting the achievements of the monarch. 

This uniform, official art of the Grand Régne did 
not spring into being at a word. The elements of 
which it was formed are seen clearly in the work of 
the first half of the seventeenth century, and the 
tendency to a single mode of expression was already 
well defined by the end of the minority of Louis XIV. 
The native achievements of the sixteenth century 
offered a fertile soil for new developments; but two 
great currents of foreign influence, one coming from 
the Netherlands and the other from Italy, had first 
to meet, contend, and finally mingle before a new, 
homogeneous style could emerge. 

In general, French art ceased to be under more than 
casual foreign influence by the third quarter of the 
century—the assimilation of foreign elements was 

226 


PRENCH ART, XVIJ CENTURY 


complete. The situation was now reversed, and in 
Italy, Germany, England, Spain, and to some extent 
in Holland, French taste became the standard of 
excellence. 


In the architecture of the early part of the century, 





FIG. 116. ARMOIRE 
FRENCH, ABOUT 1700 


Salomon de Brosse continued the indigenous tradition 

of simple masses, depending for decorative effect on 

the picturesque outline of steep roofs, on rustication, 

quoining, and well-spaced fenestration. This serious, 

Puritanical type well expressed the mood of a people 

just recovering from the disasters of civil war. Not 
227 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


dissimilar in style are the painting of Philippe de 
Champagne and the monumental sculpture of Bar- 
thélemy Prieur. If in domestic and civil architecture 
the native tradition persisted with only slight modi- 
fications, in ecclesiastical building Italian influence 
soon became dominant, principally through the work 
of the Jesuit, Etienne Martel-Ange, an artist of con- 
siderable ability, under whom hundreds of structures 
in the Jesuit style sprang up all over France, spread- 
ing abroad the influence of the Italianate baroque 
of Vignola. The architecture of this formative 
period culminated in the work of Francois Mansart; 
the wing at Blois, built for Gaston of Orléans, brother 
of Louis XIII, shows the sophistication of the French 
domestic style under Italian influence—a type char- 
acterized by bold, simple masses, careful proportion, 
and a reticent use of the single story order. Sculp- 
ture also tended to succumb to the influence of 
the late sixteenth-century Italian school, as may be 
noted in the work of Pierre Biard, Jacques Sarrazin, 
and Michel Anguier. 

If Italian influence predominated in the plastic 
arts, painting, on the contrary, came more strongly 
under that of the north. Especially is this true in 
religious painting and portraiture. In decorative 
work, Simon Vouet and his pupil, Lesueur, continued 
the earlier Italianate influence of Fontainebleau. 
Throughout this period, the influence of the later 
Bolognese school—mainly by way of Flemish chan- 
nels—is evident, until finally its murky shadows were 
banished by the genius of Rubens. The painting of 
this period culminates in the work of Nicolas Poussin 
and Claude Lorraine. The various influences are now 
fused into a classic style purely French in character. 

228 


FRENGCHTART, XVIl CENTURY 


The same mingling of influences may be noted in 
the minor arts as in the major. Flemish taste long 
persisted in furniture design; indeed, it satisfied the 
bourgeoisie throughout probably the major portion 
of the century. Among the upper classes the influ- 
ence of Marie de Médicis and the vast collections 
formed by Richelieu and Mazarin brought into popu- 
larity the elaborate and sumptuous cabinet-work of 
Italy. The importation of Italian craftsmen occurred 
at this time, and a more sophisticated Italian 
baroque decorat on began to oust or to refine the 
ruder Franco-Flemish types, as marquetry and low 
relief tended to displace turned and boldly carved 
forms. Following Flemish fashions, textiles, and 
especially tapestry, play a more important part in 
interior treatment at this period than at any other 
time. Brussels was the center of the tapestry in- 
dustry, and it is significant that one of the first acts 
of Colbert was to give official rating and aid to the 
weavers of the Gobelins, in the hope of diverting into 
French hands the income thus accruing to Flanders. 

The founding of the Academy of Painting and 
Sculpture in 1648 as an official organization of artists 
working under royal warrant, as distinguished from 
the Guild of St. Luke, marks the first formal move 
toward the centralization of the arts under immedi- 
ate governmental control. The second step, and the 
most far-reaching in its effects, came in 1662 when 
Colbert formed at the Gobelins the Manufacture 
Royale des Meubles de la Couronne. This he placed 
under the direction of Charles Lebrun, who in the 
same year became premier peintre du rot. 

Lebrun, son of a sculptor and a pupil of Vouet, 
first became prominent through his work for the min- 

229 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


ister, Fouquet, at Vaux le Vicomte, where he showed 
his ability not only as an artist but as an organ- 
izer of artists and craftsmen in the carrying out 
of a great decorative scheme. Before Fouquet’s dis- 
astrous fall, Lebrun had come under the direct 
patronage of the king at Fontainebleau, and was 
therefore retained in the royal favor. Although Le- 
brun’s work, judged by standards of today, 1s cold, 
pompous, and harsh in color, his manner was 
absolutely in accord with contemporary taste. His 
technical mastery and his grasp of the problems of 
composition and decoration were extraordinary. 
He was a firm believer in the unity of the arts, and 
produced designs with astounding facility for the 
swarm of craftsmen who worked under his direction. 
No person better equipped could have been found for 
the leadership of this great consolidation of the arts. 
The style of Louis XIV must be considered largely 
his handiwork. 

Before Paris itself was deserted by Louis XIV in 
favor of Versailles, an attempt was made to complete 
the Louvre in a manner worthy of the grandeur of 
the new king. The celebrated Italian architect and 
sculptor, Bernini, was called in with great pomp and 
ceremony to undertake this work; but his designs 
were not adopted and the famous colonnade of the 
Louvre was erected from the plans of Claude Per- 
rault. More than any other single architectural 
composition, Perrault’s facade of the Louvre with its 
colossal order expresses the power and majesty of the 
French king. Francois Blondel, a theorist as well as 
practitioner, represents the traditions upheld by the 
Academy of Architecture, founded in 1671; his chief 
monument is the Porte St. Denis. To the somewhat 

230 


PRENOH ART, XVII CENTURY 


commonplace work of Jules Hardouin Mansart suc- 
ceeded the freer handling of Robert de Cotte, who 
ushers in the succeeding style with the chapel of 
Versailles, finished in 1710. Although Mansart was 
in many ways the greatest figure in the architecture 
of the period, being-in supreme control of all royal 
building activities during the creation of Versailles, 
he was perhaps more truly eminent as an organizer 
and politician than as an artist. 

Besides the historical, decorative painting of the 
school of Lebrun, the second half of the century saw 
the rise of a splendid school of portraiture. The 
brilliant court of Versailles offered an unrivaled field 
to the brush, first of Lebrun’s competitor, Mignard, 
with his somewhat heavy and superficial elegance, 
and later of Largilli¢re and Rigaud who interpreted 
with a keenness of vision, learned from Rubens and 
Van Dyck, the grave and gorgeous figures of the end 
of the century. At this period, the art of engraving 
reached heights of technique hitherto unknown in 
the works of Robert Nanteuil. His portraits of the 
notables of the court in the days of greatest splendor 
are brilliantly sympathetic presentations, instinct 
with a life and vigor often lacking in the more preten- 
tious efforts of the painters. 

The vogue for portraiture extended to sculpture. 
The busts executed by Antoine Coysevox unite 
French naturalism with more than a hint of the 
flamboyant style of Bernini. Decorative sculpture 
of an allegorical character, designed for the em- 
bellishment of palaces, gardens, and funerary monu- 
ments, offered the sculptor of the period his chief 
occupation. Except on the monumental tombs 
where a degree of turgid theatricalism was permitted, 

231 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the countless gods and goddesses executed by this 
school display a uniform and unexciting amiability 
appropriate to courtly decoration and the celebration 
of the monarchical cult. Francois Girardon, Coy- 
sevox, Tuby, Le Lorrain, and the two Coustous ex- 
pended most of their superb skill in the decoration 
of the galleries and gardens’ at Versailles and, when 
unemployed by the king himself, in adorning the 
chateaux of members of the royal family and of the 
nobility. Pierre Puget, the only French artist who 
worked outside the court circle, followed the dictates 
of Italy, thereby giving his work an emotional stress 
not characteristic of the native school. 

These architects, painters, and sculptors, great as 
they were, could never alone have produced the 
milieu that was Versailles. Lodged in the Louvre 
and creating the masterpieces of the Gobelins, 
naturalized Italians and Flemings worked side by 
side with the heirs of native tradition. Here we find 
the far-famed ébéniste and marqueteur, Domenico 
Cucci, and his countryman, Philippe Caffieri, the 
author of the superb doors of the grands appartements 
of Versailles; the weavers, Van der Meulen, Jan Jans, 
and Jean Lefevre, who executed the hangings for the 
royal palace after cartoons by Lebrun; and,. perhaps 
most famous of all, André Charles Boulle who, with 
his sons, produced the magnificent furniture of ebony, 
tortoise-shell, and bronze, which typifies the decora- 
tive taste of the century. Together with these mas- 
ter-craftsmen should be mentioned the designers of 
ornament, Daniel Marot, Jean Lepautre, and Jean 
Berain. Lepautre’s work exemplifies the heavy, 
earlier style of the reign, from which Marot developed 

1Designed by the great landscape architect, Lendtre. 

232 





FIG. 117. MARBLE 
PORTRAIT BUST 
PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV 
FRENCH, XVII CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the light, exuberant foliate forms characteristic of the 
woodwork of the end of the century. Berain, with 
the Italian arabesque as his model, created a style of 
fanciful grotesques well seen in certain tapestry de- 
signs and in the ornamentation of Boulle furniture. 

The enormous increase of silver bullion from the 
mines of South America created a vogue for silver 
furniture, which is first met with in Spain. The 
taste invaded France with Anne of Austria and lasted 
almost through the century. Besides the workers at 
the Gobelins, Parisian smiths, of whom Claude Ballin 
is preéminent, were employed in the furnishing of 
Versailles with tables, guéridons, chairs, and mirror- 
frames of the precious metal, as well as a prodigious 
number of candelabra, sconces, and utensils of all 
kinds. The style of these elaborate creations, recall- 
ing the heavy, ornate baroque of Lepautre, may 
be seen in the Gobelins tapestry commemorating 
a visit of Louis XIV to the manufactory. Unfor- 
tunately, the silver of this period is now extremely 
rare. Pressed for money, the king ordered his sub- 
jects in 1689 and again in 1710 to take their silver ves- 
sels to the mint, where almost all the splendors of 
his own palace met the same fate of being melted 
down. 

Royal patronage was also extended to crafts not 
under the direct control of the crown. This was so 
in the case of the potteries at Rouen, which bene- 
fited enormously from the disasters which overtook 
the workers in silver. Under the direction of the 
Poterats, father and son, a ware of high quality was 
produced which took the place of the condemned 
metalwork. Locksmiths and ironworkers, working 
from the designs of Marot or of the great architects 


234 


FRENCH ART, XVII CENTURY 


of the time, also contributed their share toward the 
splendor of the style. The enormous amount of gril- 
lage and ornamental ironwork of Versailles alone gave 
employment to a legion of skilful craftsmen. 

The briefest account of French art of this period 
would be incomplete without some specific men- 
tion of the great chateau at Versailles in which it 
culminated. Unfortunately space permits the de- 
scription of only two rooms in all this vast. struc- 
ture, but these two epitomize the Louis XIV style. 
They are, first, the Galerie des Glaces, finished about 
1682, with its adjoining Salons of War and Peace; 
and second, the king’s bed-chamber, substantially 
in the style of 1690-1700. In the Galerie, the ef- 
forts of Mansart and Lebrun produced an interior 
singularly successful in its expression of the pomp and 
elegance emanating from Colbert’s royal policy. 
The architectural arrangement of dado, order, and 
barrel-vault, simple enough in itself, is rendered 
regal and impressive by the use of carved and gilded 
mouldings and sculpture, and by the vaulted ceiling 
profusely decorated with paintings commemorating 
the military exploits of Le Roi Solei/. The magnifi- 
cence is heightened by a large number of mirrors, 
which in 1682 represented the very essence of extrav- 
agance and was well calculated to impress the 
court with the great resources of the king. In the 
king’s bed-chamber we see the typical architec- 
tural arrangement of painted and gilded woodwork, 
with a dado surmounted by pilasters and cornice, 
above which is an attic and flat ceiling rather than 
the usual deep cove or vault. The gold and white is 
relieved by the color of the paintings over the doors 
and cornice, and by the fabric covering the walls of 


23 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


that portion reserved for the bed, which 1s separated 
from the rest of the room by a balustrade originally 
of silver. The bed was accompanied by furniture 
either of silver or of the Boulle type, with’ square, 
high-backed chairs, upholstered with rich brocade 
or velvet and gilded to harmonize with the walls, 
and by the golden vessels of the king’s service. 
The ensemble must have been extremely splendid, 
but pitched in a slightly lighter and higher key than 
that of the Galerie des Glaces. 

Outside of France and in accordance with the 
political situation as it has been outlined above, 
the arts are characterized during this century not by 
the rise of national schools but by the appearance 
of great single figures. In Italy, Lorenzo Bernini, 
sculptor and architect, became artistic dictator of 
Rome and almost of Europe. His work typifies 
the greatest attainments of the free classical spirit 
inherited from Michelangelo, but at his death, 
devitalized Italy was too weak to take up the 
standard or to develop a genius to take his place. 
Murillo and Velasquez in Spain, Rubens and Van 
Dyck in Flanders exerted enormous influence on 
contemporary and subsequent art, but again rather 
as sources of inspiration for the rising schools of 
France and England than as founders of national 
schools. Peter Paul Rubens of Antwerp, uniting 
the color sense of Venice with the vigorous realism of 
the north, inaugurated a new era in the art of 
painting. To him, more than to any other artist, 
France owes the charm of her eighteenth-century 
art, and to his teaching transmitted through his 
pupil, Van Dyck, the great English portrait painters 
of the following century are indebted for many of 

236 


PRENCH ART, XVII CENTURY 


their characteristics. In England, the seventeenth 
century 1s characterized by slow assimilation of foreign 
fashions. With the exception of Christopher Wren, 
the architect whose adaptation of French classic form 
to English taste is illustrated in St. Paul’s Cathedral 
and Hampton Court Palace, no single great figure 
arose, although the efforts of humbler craftsmen to 
reconcile early tradition with the new foreign fashions 
often produced work of great charm and beauty. 
Only in Holland did political and commercial condi 
tions produce an art which, because of its absorption 
in the interests and objects of daily life, was popular 
rather than monarchical in character. The great 
masters of this realistic school were Rembrandt and 
Frans Hals; but we owe to Vermeer of Delft and to 
the host of “little masters” those glimpses of con- 
temporary life which are so delightful and of such 
consummate artistry. Dutch commerce with the 
East led to the importation of objects of Oriental 
art. These furnished decorative motives for the 
blue-and-white and polychrome faience of Delft, 
which became popular throughout Europe. 


CHAPT Tiat 
GALLERY F 9 


Gallery F g is the first of the series of rooms de- 
voted principally to French woodwork and furniture 
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (fig. 118). 
With few exceptions this material forms part of 
the Hoentschel Collection, acquired by Mr. Morgan 
in 1906. The exhibits in Gallery F 9 are mainly of 
the period of Louis XIV (1643-1715). 

The custom of covering the walls of a room with 
a carved and decorated wainscot instead of with 
tapestries or some other textile fabric became general 
in France only toward the end of the seventeenth 
century. In fact, the style of ornament associated 
with the name of Louis XIV was already well de- 
veloped before textile wall-hangings were replaced 
by wood paneling, usually of oak. We find, there- 
fore, that little of the woodwork in this gallery 
antedates the last decades of the century. 

Against the wall to our left, as we enter from 
Gallery F 8, is a fine example of a double cupboard 
of this period, an armoire a deux corps (fig. 116). The 
form of this piece exemplifies a stage of development 
intermediate between the sixteenth-century double . 
cabinet and the full-length armoire of the eighteenth 
century, which has descended to us as the wardrobe. 

238 


6 d AUATIVD JO MAIA ‘QII “Old 


@ 
£3 
ae 
= 
a 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Note how clearly the essential rectangular structure 
is emphasized by the vertical and horizontal mould- 
ings, and relieved by the simple, segmental curves 
of the hood and of the panel divisions. The elements 
of the design still retain the architectural qualities 
of the simpler, sixteenth-century type, yet are modi- 
fied to form, as it were, a frame for the fine-scale 
surface decoration appearing on the pilasters and at 
the head and foot of the panels. The freedom of 
this decoration, its delicate scale, and the smiling, 
grape-crowned mask at the top of the hood show 
that the piece must have been made very near the 
end of the century. It is a question whether the 
armoire was originally intended to be painted. It 
has probably suffered from being painted in the past, 
though the color of the natural wood is now very fine. 

Above the cabinet is a characteristic over-door 
painting of the period in its oak frame, dating per- 
haps a few years later than the armoire. It should 
be observed how closely the ornamental motives in 
the painting correspond to those on the woodwork 
of the frame, which was itself originally painted. 
Flanking the cabinet below and encroaching on the 
west wall are three panels, said to have come from 
the Bibliothéque Nationale, where they probably 
formed part of the wainscoting of a small room. 
That they were originally royal property is indicated 
by the emblems on the center of two of the panels. 
The one on the right bears the arms of France, 
surrounded by the collars of the Orders of St. Michel 
and of the St. Esprit; and the other, the arms of 
Navarre, also enclosed by the collars of the royal 
orders. It will be recalled that Henri IV, the first 
of the Bourbons, was also King of Navarre. The bold 


240 


GALLERY F g 


mouldings and high relief of these panels suggest 
a marble rather than a wood treatment, and they 
may originally have been painted to simulate marble. 
The feeling of the design and the occurrence of mil- 
itary trophies would indicate a date not earlier than 
1680, when Louis XIV was at the height of his mili- 
tary glory. The panel over the doorway into Gal- 
lery F 8 was also, it may be presumed, part of a wain- 
scot, the device of the crossed sceptres in the center 
indicating a royal provenance. The narrow panel 
to the left of the doorway, also dating from about 
1680, is interesting, aside from the fine quality of its 
carved decoration, in that it came from the Chateau 
of Versailles. The dolphin motive with a crown su- 
perimposed and crossed L’s below probably alludes 
to the Grand Dauphin, the father of Louis XV. 
The gilded arm-chair with cane seat and back, a fine 
example of the ornate state chair of the last quarter 
of the century, was doubtless made for one of the 
royal chateaux, to judge from the royal cipher on 
the rail of the back (fig. 115). The arm-chair in the 
corner, with its cabriole legs, curved arms, and scroll- 
top rail, shows the characteristics of the first years of 
the eighteenth century; it is covered with tapestry of 
the period. 

On the wall opposite the windows are two mag- 
nificent oak doors, which are said to have come from 
the royal Chateau of Marly. While this provenance 
is very doubtful, they unquestionably formed part of 
some royal mansion, since every panel bears either 
the royal or personal emblem of the sovereign. 
The doors are almost exactly alike and from their 
construction were meant to be opened either in full or 
in part, as the occasion demanded, which suggests 

241 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


that they formed part of the decoration of a state 
anteroom, where they could be flung wide open for a 
state entry, or just one section used to permit the 
passing of a courtier or messenger. The delicacy of 
carving on the panels offers a striking contrast to the 
bold treatment of the cartouche and amorini at the 
head. The general character of the work indicates 
a date not far from 1700. The decoration on the 
panels recalls the style of Berain, especially the 
grotesques in the lowest range, where appears again 
the royal emblem of the crossed sceptres, noted in a 
previous example. At the north end of this wall will 
be noticed a door of three panels, evidently belonging 
to the “Marly” series. 

The carved architrave over the entrance to the 
main hall probably formed a part of a porte-cochére of 
this period; its mask and garland of fruit and flow- 
ers recall somewhat the manner of Lepautre. The 
lead masks below were probably part of a garden 
fountain of the early eighteenth century. Vast for- 
mal gardens decorated with sculpture and architec- 
tural features formed part of every fine country 
house of this period. Fountains and water features 
were regarded as indispensable Louis XIV spent 
enormous sums in the attempt to get a proper supply 
of water for his palace at Versailles. The flower- 
wreathed medallions of Justice and Power probably 
formed part of an exterior doorway and in their 
original condition had undoubtedly been painted. 
Below these medallions are two interesting carved 
fragments, both showing characteristics of the early 
years of the eighteenth century. In front of the door 
trim are two elaborately carved stone balusters, 
which are said to have come from the gardens of 

242 


GALLERY F g 


Lebrun’s country house at Montmorency; the em- 
blem of the Sun King, used in compliment to Louis 
XIV, may be seen between the volutes of the capi- 
tals. Flanking these are two handsome tapestry- 
covered chairs of the end of the century. 

Against the north wall are two arm-chairs of about 
the same date, one of which has the bowed back 
popular in the early years of the eighteenth century. 
Of about this date is a beautiful mirror-frame orna- 
mented in the style made fashionable by the decora- 
tions of the wi/-de-beuf at Versailles, completed in 
1701. During the first years of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, it became customary to have at least two mir- 
rors in a salon, one over the fireplace and the other di- 
rectly opposite it with a console or side-table below. 
The table shown here, very fine of its kind, is rather 
earlier in date than the mirror, and recalls the style of 
Lepautre. 

On either side of the mirror are two panels, which 
show how little ecclesiastical and domestic decoration 
differed at this time. These panels probably came 
from some private chapel dedicated to the Sacré 
Ceur, judging by the central motive of the pierced 
and flaming heart. The decoration of the background 
—a network of quatrefoils enclosing a central fleuron 
—is highly typical of the period. The lion masks 
above are probably much later in date, but the 
two wall-brackets below are fine examples of con- 
temporary carving and gilding. Brackets of this 
kind were in common use 1n the houses of the time 
to hold pieces of Oriental porcelain and the curios 
which it was then fashionable to collect. The frag- 
mentary panel over the door still retains some of 
its original gilding and painting, and shows the 


243 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


method of decoration which became popular at the 
turn of the century, when the serious and forbidding 
masquerons of the seventeenth century began to smile 
with the spirit of the rococo. In the center of the 
room is a graceful wooden pedestal or guéridon of 
the late seventeenth century, supporting a painted 
terracotta urn of about the same date, probably in- 
tended for a garden ornament. 

Placed against the window wall are two chairs 
which retain their original coverings of cut velvet. 
They are excellent examples of the simply designed, 
heavily constructed chair of about 1680. The gilded 
torchéres, some twenty years later in date, were in- 
tended to support elaborate, many-branched candle- 
sticks, instead of the charming little wooden puéti now 
placed upon them. Above are two Rouen platters 
(fig. 119) in the rayonnantstyle of the early eighteenth 
century; they are part of the notable collection of 
French faience which will be described in connection 
with Gallery F 17. 

Under the windows are three cases containing 
metalwork of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries; this is a continuation of the collection shown 
in Gallery F 8. The objects in Case A are mainly 
of German origin. Augsburg and Nuremberg contin- 
ued to be the principal centers of metalworking until 
the disasters of the Thirty Years’ War put an end to 
their prosperity. The majority of the pieces are of 
the seventeenth century, and show a tendency to 
coarser and bolder forms of ornament and a more 
restless type of design than in the previous epoch. 
The great covered cup in the center of the case is 
very similar to one shown in Case M, Gallery F 8, 
but lacks the refinement of line observable in the 


244 


GALLERY F 9 


earlier piece. Historically, the most interesting 
objects in the case are a bocal of Venetian latticino 
glass mounted in silver-gilt; and a crystal cup with 
an elaborately wrought silver base. The portrait on 
the latter is that of Ferdinand II of the Holy Roman 
Empire, for whom the cup may have been made; the 
mounts are by the Nuremberg silversmith, Wolff 
Christoff Ritter. The 
mounts of the bocal are 
also German; the piece 
is ornamented with a 
portrait medallion of the 
Duchess Maria Cathe- 
rine and surmounted by 
the horse and column of 
the house of Brunswick. 
Several drinking-vessels 
in the form of animals 
or of ships in full sail 
exemplify the taste of 
the time for quaint conceits. They are the product 
of that same childish delight in trick novelties which 
gave the gardens of Versailles its surprise water feat- 
ures, with which even stately Louis XIV used to 
delight to drench his guests. One of the finest pieces 
of German craftsmanship in Case A 1s a sixteenth- 
century bowl of agate with silver-gilt mounts; the 
exquisitely wrought ornament presages the best work 
of the eighteenth-century cise/eur of France. 

Case B is dominated by an elaborately ornamented 
ewer and basin of German origin, thoroughly typical 
of the seventeenth century in its design, which 
retains little of the fine-scale, low-relief decoration 
popular in the preceding century. The outer rim 


245 





FIG. 119. PLATEAU 
ROUEN, ABOUT 1720-§0 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


of the basin is ornamented with scenes from the 
Apocrypha and ancient history, such as the ab- 
duction of Helen of Troy, scenes between Alexander 
and Darius, and various incidents in the story of 
Judith and Holofernes; in the center are hunting- 
scenes. The decoration on the ewer depicts a Roman 
triumph. On the handle of the ewer a small lion 
bears a shield of red enamel which is inscribed 
MATERIAM SUPERABAT opus, the goldsmith thus 
boasting that his handiwork overccmes the difficul- 
ties of the material, apparently neglecting any con- 
sideration as to whether his treatment was suitable 
either to it or to the object itself. This interest in 
detail, rather than in design as a whole, is notice- 
able in a smaller dish of sixteenth-century Por- 
tuguese workmanship, ornamented with scenes in 
relief from classical mythology and biblical history; 
compare with similar dishes in Case G, Gallery F 8 
(page 206). 

A much finer sense of design is evident in a six- 
teenth-century German mirror-frame (fig. 94) or- 
namented in low relief with figures of Arithmetic, 
Geometry, Perspective, and Architecture, and their 
attendant spirits of Taste and Diligence. A charm- 
ing casket with decorations in niello, although a Ger- 
man work of the early seventeenth century, recalls 
Italian metalwork of the fifteenth century in its 
restraint and simplicity. The two candlesticks of 
crystal and gilded bronze are Italian of the eighteenth 
century, and are closely related in both material 
and design to the French woodwork shown in this 
room. Several “animal cups” may be noted. An 
elaborately decorated shrine of ebony and silver, the 
work of the Augsburg silversmith, Matheus Wall- 

246 


GALLERY F 9g 


baum, frames miniature paintings in gouache, dated 
1598, by Anton Mozart. 

One of the most curious pieces in the collection 
of metalwork is exhibited in Case C; it represents 
Diana, goddess of the hunt, mounted on a stag and 
accompanied by her hounds (fig. 120). As the head of 
the stag is removable and 
the body hollow, this lit- 
tle sculpture, beautifully 
wrought in silver-gilt, 
may be classed with the 
drinking-vessels in animal 
form; but it has also the 
character of a mechanical 
toy, since clockwork me- 
chanism in the base per- 
mits the object to move 
forward of itself. It was 
probably made at Augs- 
burg toward the end of 
the sixteenth century. 

A nautilus shell cup, ex- 
hibited in the same case, 
is mounted with metalwork of unusually fine execution 
representing Neptune guiding a whale, from whose 
mouth emerges a tiny figure of Jonah; it is a German 
work of the seventeenth century. As observed in 
the description of Case L, Gallery F 8 (page 212), 
not only such curios as ostrich eggs and nautilus 
shells were provided with elaborate mounts by the 
silversmiths of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
ries but also the hard inner shell of the cocoanut, 
which in those days must have traveled by a long and 
devious road from its original home. A covered cup 


247 





EIGS 12028) DIANA 
GERMAN, XVI CENTURY 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


in Case B is composed of a cocoanut shell which has 
been carved in low relief with the armorial bearings 
of its possessor, a Hungarian noble, whose name, 
Andreas Balasser, and those of his two wives ap- 
pear above their respective arms; the mounts were 
probably made by a silversmith of Prague about the 
year 1600. Another interesting piece in this case 
is the curious silver-gilt sauce-boat signed by the 
maker, Adam van Vianen of Utrecht, and dated 
1621. The subject represents Pluto bearing Proser- 
pine across the river Cyane. The design is particu- 
larly interesting as it suggests the flowing rococo 
contours typical of the next century. Nearby are 
two elaborate pieces of jewelry; one is a German morse 
of seventeenth-century workmanship; and the other, 
a decorative plaque, embellished with uncut jewels 
and enamels. 

In the same case is a figure of a woman in a 
voluminous skirt holding a cup above her head. It 
is a wager cup of sixteenth-century German origin. 
When the figure was inverted the skirt could be 
used as a drinking-vessel, the smaller cup revolving 
on pivots. Both containers were filled with wine, 
the trick being to drain the larger one without spilling 
the liquor from the smaller. The large covered cup 
at the end of the case is also German, probably from 
Augsburg, and of the late seventeenth or early 
eighteenth century; in the decoration are figures of 
the twelve Fathers of Israel. Nuremberg is rep- 
resented by a goblet of early seventeenth-century 
workmanship; and the skill of the Milanese enamelers 
in this period, by a small oval covered cup. 


248 







Peer NeC H AO ReL 
Rate es lH ASL E 
OES AS lao 
XVII 
op oN Inu Rex 





SHEAR LER I] 
INTRODUCTION 


In Part V we followed the growth of the monarchi- 
cal art of Louis XIV to its culmination about 1690. 
It will be recalled that in the second half of the 
seventeenth century the political and artistic in- 
fluence of France was dominant in western Europe. 
By the end of the century, her political influence— 
certainly her military prestige—was already on 
the wane, leaving, however, her social and artistic 
supremacy unquestioned. The eighteenth century 
saw this leadership augmented rather than dimin- 
ished, although the taste that then became estab- 
lished throughout the civilized world differed both 
fundamentally and superficially from the classicism 
of Lebrun. To indicate how the oratorical and 
ceremonial gave place to the conversational and 
social in art and literature is to give the only rational 
background for an understanding and appreciation of 
this much-maligned period. To do this, it 1s neces- 
sary, first of all, to look for a few moments at the 
political, social, and economic changes that were 
under way at the turn of the century. 

While England was busy with her internal troubles, 
Germany exhausted by war, and Austria beating off 
the Turks and slowly bringing order out of the chaos 

251 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


left by the Thirty Years’ War, France had been able 
to consolidate her position and even to extend her 
frontiers with little effective opposition. Elated by 
success, Louis XIV had then undertaken to rule 
Europe by force of arms, rather than by the power of 
the new national culture. The combined roles of 
Apollo and Mars, however, were too great a task 
for even a Sun King. The haughty dictator of the 
peace of Nimwegen in 1679 had to accept much less 
favorable terms 1n 1697 at Ryswick. France lost the 
Rhine. England, united under the steadfast William 
of Orange, was taking a firm stand beside rejuve- 
nated Austria against the high-handed actions of the 
French. A brief period of peace, and war again broke 
out, this time to decide whether or not the crown 
of Spain should come directly under the control of 
France in the person of the young grandson of Louis 
XIV. This War of the Spanish Succession, although 
ending by chance in favor of the French claimant, 
saw the arms of Louis go down to defeat after de- 
feat before the English under Marlborough and the 
Austrians under Eugene of Savoy. France was un- 
equal to the financial strain of these continuous wars. 
The treasury was empty, and it seemed as if all the 
great constructive work of Colbert had been in vain. 
The war ended in 1713-1714. A year later Louis XIV 
died, the last twenty years of his life having been 
marked by almost continuous disaster, both national 
and personal. 

In these times the king, largely under the influence 
of his morganatic wife, Mme. de Maintenon, turned 
to the consolations of religion, and, on the surface at 
least, a reign of austerity and gloom dimmed the 
splendor and luxury of the court. Away from this 

252 





FIG. 121. TORCHERE 
FRENCH, ABOUT 1700 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


restraint, a new society was forming. The régime of 
Colbert had fostered a class of officials and magis- 
trates originating in the commonalty, who, after the 
iron hand of their creator relaxed, had taken ad- 
vantage of the confusion of the times to divert gov- 
ernment funds to their own pockets. Magnificent 
hétels began to arise in Paris, where, under the 
leadership of Orléans, those discontented with the 
new solemnity of Versailles could lead a less restrained 
existence and enjoy the wealth and gaiety provided 
by the new nodlesse of the robe and the tax-farming 
financiers. In 1715, when Philip of Orléans became 
regent, the austerities of Versailles were replaced by 
the tone of this new Parisian society. The gaiety 
and frivolity so long restrained became the keynote of 
social life. 

Beneath this glittering surface, however, the coun- 
try was in a state of economic chaos. The drain of 
war and the over-control of commerce had reduced 
the country to extreme financial straits. The regent, 
dissolute but by no means a fool, eagerly seized on 
the scheme for financial regeneration which was pro- 
posed in 1718 by the Scotchman, John Law. Law’s 
“system” was basically not unsound, and depended 
upon the exploitation of the French territory in 
North America, particularly Louisiana. Under the 
protection of Orléans, Law undertook the floating 
of a gigantic stock scheme through a royal bank 
founded for the purpose. The project was eagerly 
received and the operation of the system extended 
to cover practically all the territory under French 
control. The fever for speculation seized both high 
and low. A period of extreme inflation followed, 
and vast fortunes were made, almost overnight. 


254 


Peoevow ARin FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


Lackeys and noblemen speculated side by side, nar- 
rowing to easy distance the social chasm between 
the nobility and the commoner of wealth, and enor- 
mously increasing the importance of the moneyed so- 
ciey of Paris. 

Although colonial expansion had begun in both 
North America and the trading posts of India, 
nothing had been accomplished to warrant the wild 
speculation going on in Paris and in London. The 
far-sighted began to see this, and liquidated their 
holdings. The total collapse of Law’s scheme rap- 
idly followed in spite of all efforts of the government 
to avért the panic. In both England and France 
thousands were ruined for the few who were enriched; 
but, although a period of retrenchment followed, 
the feverish activity of the times acted as a business 
stimulus. In spite of continued distress among the 
agriculturists, the commercial aspects of the country 
began to show a marked improvement which contin- 
ued up to the Revolution. 

The thirst for fortune and the social importance of 
wealth and the wealthy were greatly emphasized by 
these economic events. The stateliness of the grand 
régime, founded primarily on the dignity of birth and 
family, was being replaced by an era in which ele- 
gance of deportment and facility of manner were 
the indices of a rule of luxury and wealth—an order 
capable of exquisite artistic and intellectual refine- 
ment and at the same time utter superficiality. In 
this world of politesse, woman naturally played a 
much more important part than before, as the 
arbiter of elegant and graceful social intercourse. 
She became the center of interest around which the 
wits of society sparkled, perhaps rather scornfully, in 


a5 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


a world where everything was permitted but the obvi- 
ous and the boresome. 

Following the political events already mentioned, 
the eighteenth century saw a decided change in the 
balance of national power. England, from a half 
hearted ally under the Stuarts, became France’s 
most implacable enemy, an enemy of increasing 
strength, who was to destroy her sea-power and cut 
off her colonies, already weakened by the neglect of 
the home government. Austria maintained her posi- 
tion, but as the century passed found a new rival in 
Brandenburg-Prussia, under the indomitable Freder- 
ick the Great. Spain, under Bourbon rule, remained 
a political liability to France. Italy, still divided 
into numerous principalities, continued to provide 
spoil for her more powerful neighbors. Holland, 
occupied with her commerce and in keen competi- 
tion with England, assumed no significant position 
in European politics. 

With the lesson of the War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession in mind, France had finally laid aside her 
aggressive policy. Orléans tended toward an alli- 
ance with England, and his peace-seeking policy was 
continued by Louis XV under the influence of his 
minister, Cardinal Fleury. Dynastic complications 
brought France into the War of the Polish Succession 
in 1733, and a few years later into the war with Maria 
Theresa of Austria; but the réle of France in each 
case was that of a participant, rather than of a 
single-handed aggressor. Although France never 
regained, under the ancien régime, her commanding 
political position of 1660-1680, she remained the 
social arbiter of Europe. France failed to become 
the master of Europe, but even her bitterest enemy 

256 


PpeN Ch “sho FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


followed meekly her artistic leadership. French art, 
French fashions, French polite letters conquered 
where the soldiers of France could never penetrate. 
In the eighteenth century her artistic influence was 
greater than ever before. 

During the first years of the eighteenth century, 
French literature was almost a negligible quantity. 
The great figures of the preceding century left no suc- 
cessors worthy of the title, and only one name, that of 
the Duc de St. Simon, retains any real significance. 
His memoirs cover this period of transition, and give 
a strangely impersonal but vivid picture of the court 
and its life. The Duke would have scorned the 
appellation of a /ittérateur yet his work shows the 
almost involuntary trend of the man of the world in 
these times toward an interest in letters. Montes- 
quieu was the first to strike clearly the real keynote of 
French eighteenth-century literature. In his Lettres 
persanes, using this distant country much as Swift 
in England was using the mythical lands of Gulliver’s 
Travels, he pointed out and satirized the follies and 
foibles of the social order; but his most important 
work is the Esprit des lois in which he formulated his 
theory of constitutional government. By and large, 
however, the spirit of early eighteenth-century letters 
was that of the salons. The essay and the memoir 
held the field. Literature of a critical or satirical in- 
tent was not really dominant until the middle of the 
century. 

These changes in the tone and point of view of 
society we have described met with an almost imme- 
diate response in the arts. Indeed, we find the first 
tangible expression of these impending changes in 
the increasing lightness and playfulness of deco- 


257, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


rative design in the last decade of the seventeenth 
century. The dictum of Louis XIV to Mansart in 
1699 that he wished childhood subjects used every- 
where indicates, even amid the austerities of the 
last years of the Grand Monarque, the beginning of a 
new fashion; classical heroes were being replaced by 
children at play. 

The two main factors in this change developed 
almost simultaneously. One was the shifting of the 
sources of patronage from Versailles to Paris; the 
king was now only one—although still the foremost— 
of many wealthy patrons. The other was the intro- 
duction of a new method of design, which, by its 
extreme mobility, responded with great freedom to 
the dictates of fashion. It is impossible to say just 
when the germs of the rococo first appeared. They 
were undoubtedly present in the art of France, Italy, 
and Flanders in the late seventeenth century, and 
although they do not become conspicuous until the 
first quarter of the eighteenth century in what is 
called the period of the Regency, there is no rigid 
line of demarkation between the classical severity 
of seventeenth-century and the movement and free- 
dom of eighteenth-century forms. It must be empha- 
sized that the customary classification into periods is 
necessarily very rough, as one type blends almost 1m- 
perceptibly into another. An additional difficulty in 
definite classification lies in the diversity of manner 
necessarily present in an age so ruled by individual 
preference and fashion. There was no Lebrun to 
govern the taste of the eighteenth century. But in all 
these variations, which are at once the delight and 
despair of the connoisseur, there is one dominant idea. 

In the art of the seventeenth century the funda- 

268 


Pee Gi ARTS FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


mental principle was the correct massing of definite 
forms dependent upon architectural motives. The 
goal of rococo design was to satisfy the eye by an 
interplay of line and mass divorced from the limita- 
tions of architectural form. The conventional ar- 
chitectural motives were replaced or over-laid by 
vegetable and animal forms, which were at first 
arranged symmetrically about the central axis, and 
then, probably following the suggestions offered by 





FIG, 122, GILT WOOD SCONCES 
FRENCH, MIDDLE OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


Chinese and Japanese art, placed asymmetrically, 
the design being stabilized by a balance of opposing 
motion. This new principle offered almost unlimited 
possibilities, for evil as well as good, since the style in 
incompetent hands led to the submergence of struc- 
ture under intricate convolutions without real signifi- 
cance. 

The term rocaille is sometimes used incorrectly as 
interchangeable with rococo. It refers to the frequent 
use, in this free type of design, of developments of 
the rock motive derived from the artificial grotto 
work of Italian baroque architecture, and is generally 
confounded in both sense and design with the coguzlle 


cele, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


or shell motive; this, the endive, and the bean scroll 
are the main decorative details of the style. The 
various usages of these and other motives will be 
taken up more fully in connection with individual 
examples in the following chapters. 

Being essentially unarchitectonic, rococo design 
had little real effect on architecture. Structural and 
utilitarian necessities prevented all but the most 
limited use of curved forms, and it was only in the 
ornament that in the majority of cases a structure of 
the late seventeenth century differs from its suc- 
cessor of the eighteenth. By and large, the building 
activity of the eighteenth century was confined to the 
creation of private mansions where elegance and 
comfort were the prime requisites. In monumental 
work such as the chapel at Versailles, Robert de Cotte 
carried on the tradition of Mansart and Perrault, 
which was continued in turn by Jacques Ange Ga- 
briel, whose colonnaded facades in what is now the 
Place de la Concorde date from the end of the reign of 
Louis XV. Even the work of Héré for Stanislas 
of Poland at Nancy differs little in essentials from the 
type established by J. H. Mansart at Versailles. 
Only in the exuberant, semi-naturalistic ornament, 
the curved architraves, and the less severe propor- 
tions can the influence of the new style be distin- 
guished. It is the interiors of these buildings which 
reveal the real change in the system of decoration. 

De Cotte himself ushered in the new style in the 
interior of the chapel at Versailles and in the Golden 
Gallery of the Hétel de Toulouse (about 1715-1720). 
Pilasters are gradually replaced by vertical mouldings 
springing from and terminating in delicately carved 
vegetation, and cornices are suppressed or converted 

260 


Pench AKT, FIRST: HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


into string-course and cove. Corners and angles are 
reduced to a minimum or avoided altogether, leaving 
the eye free to follow the play of curved line. In the 
oval salon of the Hotel de Soubise (1727-1750), one 
of the triumphs of Germain Boffrand, there is no 
division between the walls and the ceiling, which is 
treated as a blossoming of the slender vertical mould- 
ings of the wainscot. 

In this profusion of ornament the painter plays a 
less important part than before. Although royalty 
still commanded occasional pompous Aistoires which 
through force of custom were still regarded as proof 
of artistic merit, there was little room for such in the 
smaller salons and amid the fine-scale decorations 
of the private mansions. The splendid allegories of 
Louis XIV had to be reduced in scope and com- 
plexity, and their subjects lightened, to meet changed 
conditions. The ceilings, it is true, still offered scope 
for large canvases, but even in the early years of the 
century, as in the famous work of Lemoine in the 
Salon of Hercules at Versailles, the tones are softened 
and the subject treated in a less grandiose and more 
playful manner. 

In portraiture, Largilli¢re and Rigaud continued 
to paint wealth and nobility amid the splendors of 
flowing robes and rich accessories, and Nattier and 
Van Loo perpetuated the beauties of the court in 
the guise of rather insipid divinities. Later, with 
such artists as Drouais, Perroneau, and especially 
La Tour, these theatrical trappings were discarded, 
and the individual portrayed in the midst of a lively 
conversation, alert and amiable. 

But, as can not be too often repeated, the genius 
of the eighteenth century was in decoration and in 

261 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


decoration of a special character, light and graceful, 
with no desire to teach, but only to please. Antoine 
Watteau, Francois Boucher, and, in sentiment at 
least, although later in date, Honoré Fragonard are 
the great figures of this period. Out of a variety of 
influences, Flemish and Venetian, Watteau created 
an etherealized version of the Regency spirit. His 
masterpiece, The Departure for Cythera, pictures 
a life hardly related to mortality. No passion or 
intense feeling intrudes to break the golden twilight 
of ease and grace and pleasure. The airy unsub- 
stantiality of his art lent itself perfectly to playful 
fantasy. The arabesques into which he weaves his 
fairy figures are the very essence of decorative charm. 
These forms, probably largely derived from Gillot 
and Berain, but refined and vivified by Watteau, 
set the decorative standard of the first half of the 
century, exemplified so well in the szmgeries of Chan- 
tilly by Christophe Huet. The amorous poetry of 
Watteau was succeeded by the more fleshly beauties 
of Francois Boucher, whose rounded contours, flow- 
ing line, and high, clear color controlled the fashions 
of the mid-century. A worker of exceptional facility, 
Boucher translated almost unconsciously the sensu- 
ous paganism of his day into delicate color and de- 
lightful texture. His work, never of intellectual or 
emotional depth, was usually of the highest decora- 
tive merit. The number of his pupils and imitators 
was legion. Supreme among them was Fragonard. 
A virtuoso in pigment, he continued through the reign 
of Louis XVI the voluptuous manner of Boucher, 
but infused it with a nervous vitality and a touch 
of poetry which at times recalls Watteau. While 
Boucher was satisfying Madame de Pompadour and 
262 


MoeNCH ART, FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


society generally with his dainty pastorals and 


amorous allegories, Chardin 
sounded a note of simple real- 
ism and appreciation of the 
essential beauties of every- 
day life. His work, lacking 
none of the technical excel- 
lence of the period, was pro- 
phetic of the coming spirit in 
its antithesis to the artifici- 
ality of court life. 

The first half of the eigh- 
teenth century is not an age 
of great plastic art. Monu- 
mental sculpture is as rare as 
monumental architecture. 
Bouchardon carried on the 
classic manner of the elder 
Coustou in his fountain in the 
micede.Grenelle. In. por- 
feature the work of J. B. 
Lemoyne shows clearly the 
tendency to individualization 
and naturalism that culmi- 
nated later in the work of Pa- 
jou and Houdon. About the 
middle of the century when 
the rococo was already on the 
wane, Pigalle and Falconet, 
pupils of Lemoyne, produced 
a series of figure subjects, 
mainly in miniature, which, 





FIG. 123. PANEL, STYLE 
OF CHRISTOPHE HUET 


in their restrained naturalism, charm of arrange- 
ment, and delicacy of handling, epitomize the deco- 


263 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


rative spirit of the age. On the whole, the chief 
contributions of the sculptor seem to have been at 
this time in the field of ornament; the plastic mas- 
terpieces of the age must be sought in the vigorous, 
graceful, skilfully executed decorations of plaster, 
wood, and bronze, which embellished the best inte- 
riors of the period. 

This was also the great age of furniture, and in this 
field the products of the decorators, Verberckt and the 
elder Rousseau, were rivaled by those of the bronze 
workers, Cressent and the Caffieri, and the cabinet- 
maker, Oeben. Comfort and grace of outline were 
the desiderata. The accenting of the design with 
gilt-bronze ornament, developed by the elder Boulle, 
was carried to an extreme profusion and perfection 
by Charles Cressent and the Cafheri. The wood used 
in this connection was preferably plain and dark in 
color to provide an effective background for the 
metalwork; but as the style advanced, floral mar- 
quetry appeared with greater frequency. In the 
work of J. F. Oeben the amount of ormolu was 
decreased, and an effect obtained by great purity of 
line and perfect proportion. In all this rococo fur- 
niture, the straight line is used as little as possible; 
graceful curves and delicate shapes replace the mas- 
sive forms of the earlier fashion; and the cabinet- 
maker, no less than the painter and sculptor, strives 
to be light, playful, and gay. 

Although liberty of design sometimes runs to 
license in the works of Meissonier and Oppenord, 
these extremes seem never to have been taken very 
seriously by the French craftsmen. In Italy and 
Germany, however, the style was really guilty of the 
absurdities vituperated by its critics, and we find 

264 


Prion CH ARTS FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


designs by Frenchmen carried out abroad which 
would never have been tolerated at home. 

Metalwork, ceramics, and textiles naturally fol- 
lowed the new tendencies. Side by side with the 
superb work of the dronziers, the smiths produced 
iron grilles and stair ramps of unsurpassed quality. 
The work of Jean Lamour in the Place Stanislas at 
Nancy shows how well the flowing lines of rococo 
design lend themselves to the smith’s hammer. 
The chief reminders of this period in many of the 
older streets of Paris and provincial towns are the 
eighteenth-century window balconies which often 
relieve an otherwise dull facade with a charming play 
of line. 

The fine potteries of Rouen and Moustiers con- 
tinued to be decorated in the style of Berain during 
the first years of the century, but later show the in- 
vasion of new ideas in the use of polychrome Oriental 
motives and rocaille forms @ /a corne (figs. 135, 132). 
The development of porcelain manufacture about the 
middle of the century led to the establishment, among 
others, of the royal factory at Sévres. The delicate 
material lent itself admirably to rococo forms, which 
in general recall the work of the contemporary 
silversmiths. Unfortunately, most of the fine plate 
of this period has been destroyed, but surviving 
examples, notably those by Thomas Germain, show 
the same superb qualities evident in all the best 
metalwork of the period. In spite of maladministra- 
tion, the looms of the Gobelins continued to work 
under the impetus of the previous century. Fine 
series of tapestries were woven from the cartoons of 
Coypel, Audran, and Oudry, but the productions 
which brought the greatest fame to the manufactory 

265 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


were the exquisite, rainbow-tinted tapestries after 
Boucher. At the same time that these gay and lux- 
urious hangings were being woven at the Gobelins 
for royalty and its favorites, the manufactory at 
Beauvais was making similar pieces for a more gen- 
eral market, and also the small tapestry panels for 
the upholstering of chairs and sofas which contrib- 
ute much to the charm of furniture in the period 
of Louis XV. The heavy, large-patterned brocades 
of the previous epoch were now transformed; the 
floral motives become more naturalistic, the scale 
diminishes, the color lightens, and the units of the 
design usually follow a zigzag arrangement. 

By the middle of the century the rococo style had 
reached its zenith. A change in fashion soon fol- 
lowed; and fifteen years before the death of Louis 
XV (in 1774) and the accession of Louis XVI, the 
style which bears the latter’s name was already tak- 
ing definite form. The Louis XVI style will be dis- 
cussed in Part VII. 

The history of the arts outside of France in the 
first half of the eighteenth century shows French 
influence paramount. Hardly a dissenting voice op- 
posed the dictates of Paris; and according to their 
understanding, and as rapidly as possible, artists and 
craftsmen everywhere adopted the manner and taste 
of the French masters. Russia turned to France for 
her art and social culture. Prussia, under Frederick 
the Great, frankly adopted French ideas and em- 
ployed her artists. Every European monarch mod- 
eled his court and its surroundings after that of 
Louis XV, and even the art of republican Holland 
was hardly more than a provincial edition of that 
of its more sophisticated neighbor. It must be 

266 


PRENCHOARIT, FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY 


noted, however, that in spite of the universality of 
the Parisian mode, national tastes and temperaments 
were not completely submerged in French fashions. 
The Italian rococo, although less refined than the 
French, has a masculine quality in its exuberance 
which is both a national expression and a heritage 
from the Late Renaissance. The center of the gay- 
est society in Europe, outside of Paris, was Venice. 
The paintings of Guardi and Canaletto give us a 
vivid picture of the Queen of the Adriatic in her sun- 
set glory; and Tiepolo in the magic of his brush re- 
veals himself the greatest decorator of his time. In 
north and central Europe, Teutonic taste is manifest 
in a greater ponderousness and love of detail for its 
own sake than are found in the best French work. 
In England, although French influence was strong 
throughout the eighteenth century, a distinctly na- 
tional school arose from the mingling of native and 
foreign influences in the later part of the previous 
century. From the seventeenth-century classicism 
of Inigo Jones and Wren, inspired by French and 
Italian models, developed the British Palladian 
school of architecture, led by Vanbrugh and Kent, 
which was strong enough and native enough in char- 
acter to prevent the rococo as an architectural style 
from gaining more than a temporary foothold in 
England. English painting, distinguished in the 
eighteenth century by the names of Hogarth, Reyn- 
olds, and Gainsborough, attained a thoroughly na- 
tional character by the middle of the century. In 
the decorative arts, it may be observed that the 
English styles of the late seventeenth century were 
formed largely by a mixture of French and Dutch 
elements. With the accession of the Hanoverian 
267 


THT PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Georges there comes in a more ponderous taste which 
accorded well with the, Italian baroque forms im- 
ported by the architect, William Kent. By the mid- 
dle of the century, although frowned upon by the 
architects, the style of Louis XV had captured the 
British craftsmen, and, as represented in the work 
of Chippendale, held sway until the advent of the 
brothers Adam. 


268 


CHAPTER II 


GALLERY F° IO 


LATE XVII AND EARLY XVIII CENTURY 


This gallery is devoted to French furniture and 
woodwork, mainly of the early eighteenth century 
in the so-called Regency style. To our left, as we 
enter, is a mirror-frame, typical of this period, which 
recalls very strongly the designs of Oppenord for the 
woodwork of the Palais Royal, although it actually 
came from the Hétel de Boulogne in the Place 
Vendome. The wood still retains most of its original 
gilding and painting, showing a treatment which 
became popular about this time. Slightly later 
in date, the marble mantel is in the Louis XV style 
of the second quarter of the century. On the mantel 
is an Italian portrait bust of the late seventeenth 
century attributed to Algardi. The panel to the left 
is somewhat earlier than the mantel, and illustrates a 
type of decoration popular at the end of the seven- 
teenth century; it was originally gilded and painted. 
The two inter-panels on the other side of the mantel 
are characteristic examples of the Regency style. 

Of the furniture shown on this wall, the caned 
walnut arm-chair with its tentative curves 1s in the 
style of the very last years of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. More typical of the seventeenth century 1s the 
beautifully ornamented fire-screen of carved wood 

| 269 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


framing the fine panel of contemporary needlepoint 
in which Chinese figures show the taste, then coming 
into fashion, for decorative motives adapted from the 
art of the Far East. The torchere in the formar 
an Indian girl (fig. 121) dates to about the turn of 
the century; it was probably painted and gilded, 
and may have been one of a series representing the 
four continents. The oak panel over the doorway 
into Gallery F g is an admirable example of early 
eighteenth-century woodwork. 

To the right of the doorway into the main hall are 
three carved panels, unfortunately in poor condition, 
which frame paintings of exotic birds. These panels 
probably formed part of the wainscoting of a small 
room or cabinet made during the very last years of the 
reign of Louis XIV. The motives of the design both 
in structure and detail recall the Louis XIV type, 
but their treatment is more akin to the Regency in 
feeling. A charming little console-table of carved 
wood and two gilded wall-brackets belong also to 
this period; they are perhaps a few years later in date 
than the panels. A fine leather arm-chair is typical 
of the last years of the seventeenth century. The 
adjacent writing-table with its cartonnier exemplifies 
the ormolu-mounted ebony furniture associated with 
the name of Boulle. The writing-table is a particu- 
larly fine piece, very restrained in design, and the 
mounts are of excellent quality. Nearby may be 
seen the remains of what was once a fine torchére, or 
candlestick stand, of elaborate Boulle marquetry, 
hardly any of the original tortoise-shell and brass in- 
lay now remaining. A few fragments of the shell 
show it to have been a piece of contre-Boulle—that is, 
a pattern of tortoise-shell on a groundwork of brass. 

270 : 





VIEW OF ALCOVE 


wer 24: 
FRENCH, 


FIG 


25 


ABOUT 1720- 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The carved ornament, now painted red, was un- 
doubtedly gilded. 

The chief feature in this gallery is the woodwork 
of an alcove (fig. 124), dating from the beginning of 
the reign of Louis XV, although the heavy, rather 
architectural cornice and much of the detail are 
reminiscent of the preceding style, especially in the 
strict symmetry of each individual part. In many 
ways the treatment of this alcove recalls the tran- 
sitional detail on the organ in the Royal Chapel at 
Versailles, designed by Robert de Cotte about 1710, 
but the curvilinear forms of the panel heads and 
bases would indicate a date of about 1720-1725. The 
decoration of the corner panels with trophies repre- 
senting the occupations of the four seasons is typical 
of eighteenth-century iconography. The handsome 
effect of gilded ornament upon a light, neutral back- 
ground is admirably illustrated by the woodwork of 
this alcove. The large frame on the wall opposite 
the opening is now filled with a mirror but was 
originally intended for a tapestry or some other fab- 
ric. The arm-chairs in the alcove are typical of the 
period; the one on the left is particularly interest- 
ing as showing the more comfortable upholstered 
forms which were developed as life became more 
luxurious. The console-table, now painted but prob- 
ably originally gilded, is an exceedingly fine example; 
the winged cartouche at the juncture of frame and 
leg and the banded reed moulding are characteristic 
of the period. On this table a Chinese blue and white 
K’ang-hsi vase with its stand of gilded woodwork 
represents the use of Oriental ornaments common in 
French rooms of the time. 

The chairs, upholstered in a modern fabric, which 

272 


GALLERY “FTO 


stand against the window wall, form part of a set 
of which the two arm-chairs are shown in Gallery 
F 13 on the second floor. Rather stiff in form, these 
chairs are transitional in style between Louis XIV 
and Louis XV. The gilded console-table is more in 
the style of the former, and dates about the year 
1700, some years earlier than the two small caned 
chairs on either side. 

At the foot of the stairs leading to the second 
floor is a seventeenth-century portrait bust in white 
marble. Judging from the robes of office, the worthy 
gentleman was one of the official nobility, a président 
au parlement, probably a member of the Gueidan fam- 
ily of Aix-en-Provence. The pedestal, composed of 
four varieties of marble, is of the same period as the 
sculpture (fig. 117). 


ars 


CHAPTER hit 


STAIRCASE AND GALUERR YS iesia 


THE COLLECTION (OF OERMOUE 


Nine cases on the stair landings and five cases in 
Gallery F 11 (at the top of the stairs) contain an 
exceptionally representative collection of furniture 
mounts and ornamental motives in ormolu. The use 
of gilded bronze in the decoration of furniture prob- 
ably began in Italy in the sixteenth century, but it 
was not until the second half of the seventeenth 
century in France that the fashion became really 
general. The gilding was done by the mercury proc- 
ess. After the object to be gilded had been cast 
and chiseled, an amalgam of gold and mercury was 
applied to the surface of the bronze. The piece 
was then heated and the mercury driven off in vapor, 
leaving behind a deposit of gold closely united to 
the base metal. The result was sufficiently perma- 
nent and certainly beautiful in quality, but the mer- 
cury vapor freed in the process was so dangerous 
and, in the majority of cases, so fatal to the workmen 
that one wonders whether the result was worth the 
cost. These beautiful pieces of metalwork were liter- 
ally paid for by the lives of those who were instru- 
mental in creating them. 


274 


STAIRCASE AND GALLERY F II 


The quality of the ormolu depended primarily, of 
course, upon the skilled artist who made the model 
from which the bronze piece was cast. From the 
time of the first Caffieri to Boizot at the end of the 
eighteenth century, the best sculptors of the day did 
not disdain to model for this rather humble purpose. 
A large amount of chiseling and reworking of the 
surface was usually necessary before the gold was 
applied, and even after this the surface had to be 
worked and burnished before it was complete. In 
the finest bronze work, the services of the ciseleur- 
doreur, or chaser and gilder, were almost as important 
as those of the modeler. Especially was this true at 
the end of the eighteenth century when such masters 
as Gouthiére and Thomire in the minuteness of this 
exquisite work rivaled the goldsmith’s art. 

In Case A are several masks of the type popular 
at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Similar mo- 
tives have been noted in discussing the woodwork 
of the period. The central piece is a particularly 
fine example, which probably came from the cresting 
of a Boulle armoire. The scrolls shown in the cor- 
ners at the back of the case may well have been made 
in the workshop of Boulle, as they are typical of his 
furniture ornament. On the bottom of the case are 
shown two wooden stirrups with elaborate ormolu 
mounts of the early eighteenth century. A single 
stirrup, entirely of ormolu, is of about the same date. 

The exhibits in the second case (B), as we ascend 
the stairs, are rather later in style than those we have 
just seen. One of the most interesting is a beauti- 
fully decorated lock of the Louis XIV period. On 
the back of the case is a set of four figures repre- 
senting the seasons, a favorite subject with the 


= 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


French decorators of the eighteenth century. The 
two spigots shown on the bottom of the case offer a 
splendid illustration of the dragon-head motive which 
enjoyed a great popularity in the early eighteenth 
century. The smiling mask in the center of the 
case is another piece of fine quality dating from the 
first quarter of the eighteenth century. 

The objects in Case C are mainly of the mid- 
eighteenth century, and show the preference which 
prevailed at this time for a smaller scale in ornament 
and for less massive forms. The human figure is 
represented with greater freedom, and amorini play 
a more prominent part in the decorative scheme. 
The increased refinement of scale was accompanied 
by greater delicacy in the chiseling. In the center 
of the upper shelf is a miniature head of Louis XV 
in the style of Jacques Caffieri. The group of Apollo 
and a nymph probably ornamented one of the elab- 
orate clocks of the period, which relied extensively 
upon ormolu for their decoration. The popularity 
of allegorical subjects is again exemplified in a set of 
four amorini, representing Music, Astronomy, Medi- 
cine, andsthes ants: 

In the table-case (D) along the stair rail are shown 
two typical Louis XV locks and several graceful 
mounts for table legs. The cartouche with laurel 
decoration, bearing the cipher M A, is of somewhat 
later date—probably the third quarter of the century. 

The central feature in Case E is a remarkably fine 
bust of a smiling young woman, which recalls the 
charming bronzes with which Cressent ornamented 
his magnificent tables and commodes (fig. 125). In 
the same case are two interesting bénitiers of early 
eighteenth-century workmanship. 

276 


STAIRCASE AND GALLERY F II 


Hanging on the wall between Cases F and G 
are two panels mounted with large pieces of early 
eighteenth-century ormolu. On one panel is an 
ornamental crown which probably served to hold 
up the drapery of a bed. On the second panel is a 
set of four large mounts for furniture with masks 
and ornament emblematic 
of the four seasons; these are 
splendid examples, both in 
modeling and chasing, of 
the large-scale, vigorous 
workmanship of the early 
eighteenth century. 

Ormolu of the Louis XVI 
period, distinguished by the 
symmetry and classic re- 
straint of the detail, is exhib- 
ited in the remaining cases, 
beginning with Case F. 
Furniture mounts now lost ee Sore 
the semi-structural signifi- — prencn, xvit CENTURY 
cance as reinforcements 
which, on the whole, had characterized these orna- 
ments throughout the earlier part of the century; in 
compensation, however, there is an exquisite and 
jewel-like fineness of workmanship. 

Case G contains a number of furniture appliqués, 
decorated with the motive of a human head sur- 
rounded by rays of light, a symbol of Louis XIV as 
the Sun King, which was revived at this period. 
A vase handle in the form of a rope of laurel from 
which hangs a child represented in half-figure is 
a vigorous piece of modeling and design, worthy 
of a master hand. The statuette of a bathing girl 


if 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


in the style of Falconet and the dancing figure next 
to it served to ornament clocks. The torso of a girl 
terminating in an acanthus scroll is very similar to 
part of the mounting of a vase now in the Louvre, 
attributed to Thomire. 

Cases H and I on the next landing continue the 
exhibition of Louis XVI ormolu. Particularly nota- 
ble in Case H are two fine terminal figures of 
children. Next to these are two interesting ferrule 
designs. The candlestick base in the center of the 
case and the little ewer above it both presage the 
coming of Empire design in their close imitation of 
classical forms. In Case I are shown some fine 
examples of acanthus-leaf ornament. Note particu- 
larly the beautiful boss of leafage below the clock 
statuette after Falconet. 

The collection is continued in Gallery F 11 at the 
head of the stairs. The shallow case (J) on the left 
is filled with mounts of various kinds, mostly of the 
period of Louis XVI. Above the case is a wood- 
carving representing Astronomy, which was evt- 
dently intended for the crown or fronton of a book- 
case; a companion piece with Geography for its sub- 
ject is exhibited above Case N. Over the wood- 
carving of Astronomy are two paintings on canvas 
of classical ruins by Hubert Robert. Charles Eisen 
was the painter of the two oval paintings (fig. 126) on 
canvas of putti supporting medallions against a blue 
ground, which hang above Geography. 

Some exquisite examples of ormolu are shown in 
the small case (K) to the left of the doorway opposite 
the stairs. Of particular interest is a double medal- 
lion with portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoi- 
nette. Balancing this are two unidentified portrait 

278 


MOIR CASE “AND GALLERY F II 


medallions of the same period. Below isa fine plaque 
representing the toilet of Venus, the end ornaments 
of which recall the style of Salembier. Flanking 
the center piece are two fragments of acanthus scroll 
ornament with amorini, probably made by Gouthiére 
himself. The opposite case (LL) continues the series, 
but no piece of out- 
standing interest re- 
quires comment. 

Some of the furni- 
ture mounts in Case 
M are exceedingly 
‘emia quality, In 
the center of the case 
may be noted a plaque 
in low relief of a group 
of infants represent- 
ing Astronomy. A 
similar plaque is 
found on a piece of os 
furniture by Riesener, FIG. 126. PAINTING 
now in the Louvre. BY CHARLES EISEN 
Among the exhibits 
are excellent examples of the extraordinarily fine and 
delicate workmanship in which the craftsmen of this 
period excelled; in this respect two little flower sprays 
on a dark blue background should be particularly 
noted. 

The remainder of the collection is displayed in - 
Case N. In the first of the three sections into which 
this case is divided, the ormolu 1s of the Louis XVI 
period, but the octagonal plaque with the figure of a 
priestess and the plaque pierced with arabesque 
designs foreshadow the coming of the Empire style. 


“9 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Notable among the pieces in this section is a small 
panel in low relief showing children writing. The 
subject, no doubt, is intended to represent Literature. 
On either side are two very fine rinceaux, showing 
many of the characteristics of the workshop of 
Gouthiere. The two remaining sections of Case N 
are devoted to ormolu in the Empire style. As the 
furniture of this period relied largely for its effect 
upon the contrast between gilt-bronze mounts with 
rigid, sharply defined outlines and the dark mahogany 
upon which they were applied, the silhouette was 
accordingly of greater importance than the inner 
modeling in the ormolu. 

Although the expert craftsmanship of the Louis 
XVI period was continued by a few artists such as 
Thomire, the ormolu of the Napoleonic régime and 
later shows both in technique and design a gradual 
degeneration from earlier standards. Thoroughly 
typical of the Empire style is the appliqué represent- 
ing Venus in her swan-drawn chariot. Nearby is a 
key in the Louis XVI style, but bearing the cipher 
of the Emperor Napoleon. Other bronzes illustrate 
typical Empire motives, such as the conventionalized 
Greek forms of acanthus and anthemion, and the 
swan and griffin. The importance of the silhouette 
in Empire design is shown particularly well in a 
large appliqué depicting Fame in a chariot. To 
realize the loss of delicacy which took place with this 
changed point of view, compare the wreath ornament 
exhibited in this section of Case N with similar mo- 
tives in the Louis XVI style which may be seen, for 
example, in Case M. 

A portrait by Baca-Flor of the late J. Pierpont 
Morgan 1s placed above a sixteenth-century Italian 

280 


STAIRCASE AND GALLERY F II 


mantelpiece of Verona marble. Against the railing 
of the stair-well are two fine side-tables veneered 
with an elaborate marquetry of exotic woods; they 
were probably made in France in the late eighteenth 
century after English models. Standing on a pedes- 
tal in the Louis XVI style between the tables is a 
beautifully proportioned standing lamp of gilt- 
bronze. This admirable example of Empire ormolu 
is surmounted by a handle in the form of the imperial 
eagle surrounded by a wreath of laurel. 


281 


CHAPTER IV 
GALLERY (rate 


The exhibition of French furniture and woodwork 
of the early eighteenth century is continued in this 
gallery (fig. 127). On the wall to the right as we 
enter are shown three fragmentary panels of typical 
Regency design. As each panel is ornamented with a 
trophy of musical instruments, this woodwork was 
probably intended for a music room or salon. Above 
is an over-door panel which will give some idea of the 
appearance of this dozserie when, in its original con- 
dition, the effect of the carving was enhanced by 
painting and gilding. Two small carved panels, 
decorated with the rayed star and the cipher A M 
(Ave Maria), are a few years later in date, and prob- 
ably formed part of some piece of sacristy furniture. 
The gilded console-table is earlier in date than the 
paneling; its rather light proportions and the use 
of the dragon motive in the carving place it in the 
first years of the eighteenth century. The arm-chairs 
flanking the console-table are also of the early eight- 
eenth century. One of these chairs, covered with a 
tapestry in the manner of Oudry, is particularly 
beautiful in line; it may also be noted that traces 
still remain of the original polychrome decoration of 
the woodwork. 

2512 








VIEW OF GALLERY F 12 


FIG. 127. 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


On the wall opposite the windows are four doors, 
perhaps from a library, which are separated by nar- 
row panels of somewhat later date carved with 
trophies of Music and Drama. The present as- 
semblage dates from the nineteenth century when 
the upper panels of the doors were filled with imita- 
tion book-backs which presumably replaced earlier 
bindings of the same kind. ‘These doors are master- 
pieces of the wood-carver’s craft in the early years of 
the eighteenth century. The carving is so sharp 
and delicate that it is hard to believe they were ever 
painted, and certainly no trace of paint now exists. 
The two bronze busts standing on pedestals are 
eighteenth-century copies from the antique. 

Above this woodwork is shown a fine over-door 
panel with a decorative motive inspired by La Fon- 
taine’s fable of the fox and the grapes. Judging from 
the lightness and gaiety of handling, this carving 
may be assigned to the first years of the reign of 
Louis XV. 

On the next wall are three fragmentary panels 
which appear from the ecclesiastical character of 
their ornament to have formed part of the interior 
woodwork of a church. The source of these panels — 
is not known, but in general character they bear a 
close relation to the work carried out under Robert 
de Cotte in the choir of Notre Dame, Paris, and were 
probably made about the same time, that is, the 
beginning of the eighteenth century. Between these 
panels are two wall-brackets of gilded and painted 
wood, dating from the first quarter of the eighteenth 
century, and two portrait medallions of bewigged, 
seventeenth-century worthies. The roundel above 
was probably the central motive of a late seventeenth- 

284 


GALLERY F 12 


century wall-panel. Of the same date is the gilded 
console-table, which shows strong kinship with the 
decoration in the king’s bed-chamber at Versailles, 
completed in 1701. The arm-chairs upholstered in 
modern velours are some years later in date; they are 
excellent specimens of the woodwork of the period. 

Shown against the window wall is a panel from a 
screen of early eighteenth-century Savonnerie tapes- 
try in the style of Oudry. 


285 


CHAP TEAR 
GALUER Ya Fate 


A series of painted and gilded pilasters and door 
panels in this gallery (fig. 128) offers an example of 
the finest craftsmanship of the carver and gilder in 
the first quarter of the eighteenth century. These 
pieces, unfortunately in poor condition, come from the 
Chateau of Saint-Cloud, and were undoubtedly part 
of the decorations undertaken there at the command 
of the regent. If compared with the great doors in 
Gallery F g, it will be observed that a change has 
come about not only in scale but also in the system 
of paneling. The vertical lines are emphasized and 
there is a tendency to concentration of ornament at 
the two ends of the panel and around a central device. 
The actual motives of the ornament have changed 
but little, but in their handling an increased feeling 
for flowing line is manifest. In the clear organiz- 
ation of their design, these panels show an advance 
over the Regency woodwork in the preceding gallery. 
Similar in style to the Saint-Cloud doiserie are two 
panels on the north wall, which were also originally 
painted and gilded. The gilded console-table on the 
same wall and the two fragments of wood-carving 
in high relief, possibly models for ormolu, shown 
above, are works of the early eighteenth century. 

286 





‘ 


VIEW OF GALLERY F 13 


128, 


FIG. 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Between the panels is a sketch for a ceiling painting 
representing Saint James of Compostella leading the 
army of Spain against the Moors; the painted over- 
door above, representing Winter, is attributed to 
Jacques La Joue. 

Above the pilasters and door panels from Saint- 
Cloud on the west wall is a fine Regency over-door, 
the mate to which we have already seen downstairs. 

The small paintings on this wall include a flower 
piece in the manner of J. B. Monnoyer; a sketch 
for the decoration of a dome by Antoine Barthé- 
lemy; a sketch for a ceiling decoration representing 
the Triumph of Leda, in the mid-eighteenth-century 
manner; and a little sketch, attributed to Oudry, of 
a parrot and grapes. 

Two arm-chairs illustrate rococo decoration at its 
height. One (on the right) is a particularly striking 
example of the skilful asymmetric design in which 
the second quarter of the eighteenth century took 
so much delight. The other chair has retained its 
original gilding, which emphasizes the rather heavy 
and over-loaded ornament typical of one phase of 
the extreme rococo. 

Although most of the existing mantels of the eight- 
eenth century are of marble, a large number were 
probably of wood, and have perished in the course of 
time. One of these wooden mantels, made during 
the first quarter of the eighteenth century, is shown 
in this gallery; it was probably painted, possibly to 
imitate marble, although nothing now remains of 
the original color. The involved scrolls forming the 
central motive of the carving offer an early example 
of asymmetric design. The mirror-frame above, with 
its painted over-panel of a pastoral scene in the 

288 


GALLERY F 13 


manner popularized by Watteau and his school, is 
rather later in date, as are the infant caryatids in 
bronze on either side of the mantel. The latter are 
remarkably fine in quality, and were probably part 
of the gilded bronze decorations of a marble mantel- 
piece. The paintings on this wall are studies for 
ceiling decorations; one by C. J. Natoire represents 
Wisdom Defeating Ignorance; and the other, in the 
manner of Le Moine, Hercules and Omphale. The 
frame of the latter is a beautiful example of mid- 
eighteenth-century work. 

The most important object in this gallery is a 
door of carved and painted wood, the principal panel 
of which is decorated with a hunting scene painted 
not improbably by Christophe Huet (fig. 123). This 
is an admirable example of polychrome decoration in 
the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Atten- 
tion may also be called to another door panel, of 
about the same time, with a painted decoration in 
the manner of Oudry. Shown on the window jambs 
are two interesting pieces of eighteenth-century 
wood-carving, probably made as models for metal 
ornament. 


289 


CHAPTE RAVE 


GALLERY F 14 


A LOUIS XV BOISERE: 


In this gallery is shown practically the complete 
woodwork! of a room taken from an old house, in the 
quarter of the Marais at Paris, which is said to have 
been once the property of Madame de Pompadour, 
although it is rather improbable that the great favor- 
ite occupied it herself (fig. 129). The paneling, how- 
ever, dates from the time of her ascendancy, about 
1740; and in its treatment recalls the work of Charles 
Etienne Briseux, one of the principal architectural 
designers and theorists of his day. 

The room was intended for a bed-chamber, one 
side being occupied by the alcove in which it was 
customary to place the bed. Exigencies of exhibition, 
however, have necessitated a change in arrangement, 
so that the room has now more the appearance of a 
salon. This transformation does not, however, con- 
tradict the spirit of the design, since the bedroom at 
this period was often treated as elaborately as a 
reception room and quite frequently used as such. 
The placing of mirrors over the mantel and on the 
opposite wall above a console-table, as seen here, was 
the usual arrangement in such rooms, the double 

‘Presented to the Museum in 1920 by J. P. Morgan. 

290 


otl1 Ltoaogadv ‘NOOU HONAYA V AO AWUOMAGOOM 
+I d AUATIVD AO MAIA ‘“OTI “OLA 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


reflection thus increasing the apparent size of the 
apartment. In its original condition the woodwork 
was painted and gilded, and it is not unlikely that 
some sort of polychrome decoration also was used. 
But successive coats of paint obscured in time the 
fineness of the carving, and it was necessary to re- 
move the paint when the paneling was acquired to 
bring out the quality of the woodwork. Furniture 
and other accessories have been arranged in this 
room to give some idea of the appearance of a Louis 
XV salon. 

An arrangement of this sort demonstrates the 
essential harmony which existed between the rather 
flamboyant lines of the Louis XV furniture and its 
surroundings. They were made to be seen together 
and neither appears to advantage without the other. 
Neglect of this principle and failure to provide a 
proper setting have led to an almost total misunder- 
standing of this style outside of France. 

The design of the woodwork shows clearly the 
essential characteristics of Louis XV_paneling— 
the emphasis on vertical rather than on horizontal 
lines, the concentration of the ornament at the ends 
and middle of the panel, and the asymmetrical de- 
sign of the decorative motives (well seen in the door- 
heads and the over-mirror panels). The chandelier 
is probably of Italian workmanship, but of a type 
commonly used in French interiors. Particularly 
worthy of notice are the beautiful chairs and the 
exquisitely carved table exhibited in this room. 

On either side of the alcove entrance are two 
gilded sconces of carved wood (fig. 122); the elaborate 
rococo design recalls the style of Meissonier. Be- 
tween the windows is a decorative painting in the 

292 


GALLERY F 14 


style of Pillement’s chinoiseries. Below is a gilded 
console-table of the early eighteenth century, on 
either side of which are two caned chairs of the same 
period. The two caned arm-chairs in the corners are 
excellent examples of mid-eighteenth-century types; 
the seats of both chairs were originally upholstered 
with flat removable cushions. 


293 


CHAPTERS Va 


GALLERY Ghai 


FRENCH ART-—MID-XVIIiACEN Va 


The objects in this gallery date for the most part 
from the mid-eighteenth century. In the center of 
the wall to our right, as we enter from Gallery F 14, 
is an elaborately carved panel, still retaining traces 
of color decoration, which probably came from some 
royal palace, to judge from the fleur-de-lis in the 
decoration at its base. The trophy, which orna- 
ments the center of the panel, 1s composed of various 
mathematical and scientific instruments and was prob- 
ably intended to represent the sciences. The panel 
is near in style to the work of Nicolas Pineau. 
Two other panels on this wall with trophies com- 
posed of emblems of the hunt probably formed part 
of the decoration of a country house or lodge in 
which such designs would be particularly appropriate. 
To the right of the central panel is a painting of a 
pastoral scene in the manner of Boucher, below which 
is a small console, gilded in two tones, which recalls 
the Meissonier-Pineau school of the second quarter 
of the century. The balancing console, now painted 
a reddish brown tint, but originally gilded, may be a 
few years earlier, as it is a little more restrained in 


294 


GALLERY F I$ 


style. Above this is a sketch for a ceiling by Fran- 
cois Le Moine, who painted the famous ceiling of the 
Salon of Hercules at Versailles. A typical rococo use 
of the palm-leaf motive is shown in the gilded frames 
above. 

In the center of the adjoining wall is a fine armoire 
dating from the middle of the century, though some 
of the detail, which is exceedingly delicate, seems to 
be a little earlier in type. The armoire appears to 
have been in general a provincial piece of furniture, 
its place in more sophisticated establishments being 
taken by a small room or garde-robe lined with cup- 
boards. This piece, however, is worthy of the most 
urbane and refined surroundings. On either side 
of it are two doors from a bookcase, delicately carved 
with the palm-leaf motive. Above the armoire is an 
alcove-head, somewhat restored, dating from the 
second quarter of the century. 

The central panel on the south wall is part of a 
door. As this panel was found in the town of Ver- 
sailles, it may well have come from some Jbozserie 
originally in the palace. In delicacy of design and 
execution it resembles the carvings at Versailles at- 
tributed to Jacques Verberckt. The two vigorously 
carved panels decorated with the attributes of Love 
and Music on the same wall came from a house in 
the same quarter of Paris as the paneled room in the 
preceding gallery; in style these panels, originally 
painted and gilded, are characteristic of the first ten 
years of the reign of Louis XV. The finely carved 
-alcove-head, shown above, is a few years later than 
these in style. A canvas in grisaille of children at 
play, shown below, is signed by Jakob De Wit and 
was painted about the middle of the century. Of 


rie) 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


about the same date are the charming little wood- 
carvings of cherub heads, probably fragments of a 
frame; others are shown in the next gallery. Two 
small, caned side-chairs, with delicately carved floral 
motives, are typical of the mid-eighteenth century, 
when the informality of society demanded light and 
mobile forms as well as graceful lines. Above the 
chairs are sketches for mural decorations attributed 
to Tiepolo and Boucher. | 

On the window wall are shown two panels, one 
of which belongs to the set mentioned on page 300. 
The other is an inter-panel from a Louis XV doiserie, 
in which painted and carved ornament are combined. 
The gilded dolphins were probably ee orna- 
ments of a staircase balustrade. 


CHARLER VIII 


GALLERY F 16 


Pie won. aART——-MID—XVIII CENTURY 


The material in this gallery is mainly of the period 
of Louis XV. The central exhibit on the wall to 
the right as we enter is a fragment of a fine early 
eighteenth-century panel, the presence of the fleur- 
de-lis in the lower part of the panel indicating a royal 
provenance. The exquisitely carved detail is remi- 
niscent in many ways of forms popular in the last 
years of the reign of Louis XIV, but the organization 
of the design and a certain lightness of type indicate 
an origin not earlier than the Regency. To the 
right of this panel is an eighteenth-century Venetian 
copy of a lost painting by Tiepolo, representing a 
Vision of the Trinity. Below this is a gilded terra- 
cotta wall-bracket, which may be dated about 
Poon the other side of the central panel are 
two sketches for ceiling compositions by De Wit; the 
upper one is dated 1742, and the lower, 1743. Both 
paintings illustrate episodes in a series portraying the 
triumph of time over the labors of man. Below is a 
—limewood wall-bracket of the early eighteenth cen- 
tury. Crowning the whole group 1s an alcove-head, 
now stripped of its original painting. and gilding, 


297 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


which may be assigned from the style of the shell 
motive to the middle of the century. On a low plat- 
form is a covered brazier (fig. 130) elaborately carved 
in wood and painted to resemble bronze. It is prob- 
ably a model designed for execution in metal. Judg- 
ing by the decoration, the piece was made some time 
in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. On 
either side of this are two heavily carved cabriole 
legs, which, with the two shown on the window wall, 
are the only surviving portions of what must have 
been a fine table of the first half of the century. The 
caned desk-chair of beechwood still retains some of 
its original color, and shows in its carved decoration 
the asymmetric motives typical of the middle of the 
century. The dainty dergére, with its upholstery of 
figured velvet and its painted woodwork, is an ex- 
cellent example of boudoir furniture of this period; 
note the breadth of the seat made necessary by the 
voluminous skirts then worn. 

Occupying the center of the wall opposite the win- 
dows is a huge door panel of a distinctly different 
character from most of the woodwork we have been 
considering. The severity of the enframing mould- 
ing contrasts strangely with the rather exaggerated 
and none too graceful curves of the rococo decoration. 
While the design has vigor and invention, it lacks 
refinement. The peculiarities of the style, the use 
of walnut rather than oak, and the nautical signifi- 
cance of the central trophy would seem to indicate 
an origin in some coastal province, probably on the 
Mediterranean. The over-door frame above re- 
calls the style of Meissonier in its elaborate rocaille 
design, and, like the two oval frames on either side, 
dates from the second quarter of the century. Of 

298 


GALLERY F 16 


about the same time are the single and the double 
bookcase doors on this wall. 

Standing in one corner of the gallery is a simple 
but pleasing dergére-en-confessionnal, or wing-chair, 
with its original upholstery, which dates from’ the 
first half of the century; the frame is of walnut and 
was probably not painted. Adjacent is a curious 
and rather crudely worked console-table of wood, 
gilded in two tones, which 
shows the transition between 
the Louis XV rococo and the 
classical influences of the last 
years of his reign. Above the 
console is a study by J. R. de 
Troy for a painting represent- 
ing the Triumph of Mordecai, 
exhibited in the Salon of 1740, 
and now in the Louvre. This 
was one of a series of seven ee is 
paintings illustrating the his- LOUIS XV STYLE 
tory of Esther, from which a 
series of tapestries were woven. Between this and a 
fine over-door panel in the style of J. B. Monnoyer is 
an attractive little carved wood panel of the middle of 
the eighteenth century, the delightful design of which 
must have been enhanced by its original color decora- 
tion. On this wall also are two more of the bookcase 
doors similar to those exhibited in Gallery F 15. A 
gilded arm-chair, upholstered in Genoese velvet of 
the early eighteenth century, is in the Delafosse 
style,' typical of the third quarter of the century. 
This chair shows with somewhat more grace and 
suavity than the console-table the transition be- 





1So called from its most prominent exponent. 


one 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


tween the rococo and the new classicism observable 
here in the axial symmetry of the design and in the 
use of the Greek key motive. 

Beneath the window is part of the framework of a 
duchesse or day bed. The panels on each side of the 
window are possibly from the Chateau of Rambo- 
uillet. 


300 


Siew LER LX 


GALLERY F 17 


BREN CHART —XVIII CENTURY FAIENCE 


The Le Breton Collection of French faience,! ac- 
quired by Mr. Morgan in tigio, is the principal 
feature of Gallery F 17. This collection, one of the 
most notable of its kind, includes fine specimens 
of the Rouen, Moustiers, Marseilles, Sceaux, and 
Strasbourg potteries. The majority of the pieces, 
however, come from the Rouen kilns and may be 
divided into two main groups. 

One group is characterized by designs of symmet- 
rically placed lambrequins and arabesques, a style 
known as @ lambrequin or rayonnant, in which the 
lines of the pattern are painted in blue on a white 
ground or are reserved in white against a field of blue 
(fig. 134). Occasionally sienna orange or a deep, 
opaque red is added. The motives composing these 
patterns were taken largely from the work of such 
designers as Berain, and from ornament found in lace, 
embroideries, marquetry, and printed books of the 
seventeenth century. In faience, the style main- 
tained its popularity during the first half of the 
eighteenth century. 


14 portion of the collection is shown in Gallery F 25 in the windows of 
the eighteenth-century shop-front, and various early pieces are exhibited 
in two cases in the main hall. 


301 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Rouen pottery of the second group is distinguished 
by a wider range of color (green and yellow being 
added) and by the use of new decorative motives. 
Devices borrowed from Oriental art were followed by 
the scroll and shell motives of the rococo style (fig. 
137). Patterns of the latter type, known from the 
frequent occurrence of the horn of plenty as the style 
a la corne (fig. 132),seem to have been especially popu- 
lar throughout the second 
quarter of the eighteenth 
century and even earlier. 
The Rouen potters, or per- 
haps one should say their 
clients, were conservative 
in taste, and patterns pop- 
ular in the early eighteenth 
century continued to en- 
joy favor well into the 








FIG. “120s ROUEN REALE . : 
3 reign of Louis XVI. 
WITH ARMS OF ~ 5 
LOUIS POTERAT Next in importance to 


Rouen as a pottery center 
was Moustiers; its best productions were charac- 
terized by delicate, open-spaced designs inspired by 
Berain and Toro (fig. 133). The delicate fower-spray 
and genre designs, typical of the Louis XVI period, 
are best exemplified in the productions of Sceaux, 
Strasbourg, and Marseilles. 

In general, the faiencier was not particularly sensi- 
tive to fluctuations of fashion, as his products were 
intended mainly, at least in the second half of the 
eighteenth century, for a dourgeoisie which concerned 
itself little with such matters. This was especially 
true after the introduction and development of porce- 
lain, when the aristocracy followed the example of 

302 


GALLERY F 17 


Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette in 
patronizing the royal factory at Sévres. Before this, 
however, Rouen ware was used by all classes of 
society. In 1688 and again in 1709, when silver plate 
was put under an interdict, its place was taken 
largely by the handiwork of the Rouen potters. The 
frequent occurrence of the arms of noble families on 
many pieces in this collection, remnants probably 
of complete services, shows 
its general use by persons 
of consideration. Even in 
1752, when the rivalry of 
porcelain must have begun 
to tell, a contemporary 
writer notes that there 
were three large factories 
at Rouen, in the Saint- 
Sever quarter, producing 

enough for the entire "'* ee ae 
Beaune weltteeisal 730 {Ne pecoRaTion “ih LA CORNER” 
factories still employed 

some 2,000 workers, although the commercial treaty 
of that year with England proved a fatal blow to the 
French industry. 

The pieces in Case A and on the wall to the right 
as we enter are mostly of the rayonnant type of 
Rouen ware. A large oblong plaque, hanging on 
the wall to the left, is decorated with a painting 
of Christ appearing to the Apostles; as in this in- 
stance, paintings (or rather, engravings after paint- 
ings) were sometimes copied on French faience, 
following Italian precedent. On the wall to the 
right of the case is a fine platter in the rayonnant 
style, with the armorial bearings of Baron Thirel de 


SIH 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Bois-Normand. In the center of the middle shelf of 
Case A is a plate with the arms of the Marquis de 
Tournai, from the factory of Jacques Hustin of 
Bordeaux (an offshoot of Moustiers); the pinkish 
color of the white enamel is distinctive. On the 
lower shelf is a quaint example of Moustiers repre- 
senting two musicians and a dancer; a long inscrip- 
tion celebrates the virtues 
of wine for those oppressed 
with the megrims. Near 
this are two seventeenth- 
century Rouen plates with 
blue camaieu decorations in 
the early Nivernaise style of 
the Poterats, showing strong 
Dutch-Oriental influences. 
Above Case A is a wood- 
carving in high relief from 
an early eighteenth-century 
FIG. 133. MOUSTIERS EWER over-door. Another frag- 
PARTY ORVITeC ETE ment from an over-door, 
a fine bit of Louis XVI 
woodwork, is shown above the doorway to Gallery 
PeTGs 
In the free-standing case (B) five examples of the 
extremely rare Rouen porcelain offer an interesting 
comparison with the faience, for though the patterns 
employed are similar, the porcelain glaze is much 
more brilliant. Most of the faience of rayonnant 
design (fig. 131) are in this and the succeeding case, 
C. The two jardiniéres in Case B are striking ex-. 
amples of the lambrequin pattern in red and blue. 
The beautiful ewer (fig. 133) in the center of the top 
shelf is a Moustiers piece of the second (or Berain) 


304 








FIG. 134. PLATEAU 
ROUEN, ABOUT 1705-20 





PIG. 136. PLATEAU 
BY GUILLIBAUD (?) 
ROUEN, ABOUT 1710-20 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


period, and may be distinguished from the similar 
Rouen products by the tone of blue and by the more 
open spacing of the ornament. Next to it is a small 
covered pitcher of Rouen ware, particularly interest- 
ing for the introduction of green and yellow in an early 
lambrequin design. The exhibits in Case C are all 
characteristic specimens of the Rouen factories, with 
the exception of a caster on the upper shelf which 
must be assigned to Moustiers. 

Turning now to the cases on the long wall, the 
first on the extreme right (D) contains both Rouen 
and Moustiers pieces. The group in the center of 
the middle shelf is typical of the latter factory under 
the direction of Olerys, whose experience in Spain 
probably accounts for his departures from the usual 
French forms. The color of the white enamel on 
the Moustiers ware shows a distinct difference when 
compared with the Rouen pieces. The central plate 
on the upper shelf (fig. 135) is a Rouen piece in which 
the usual motives are combined with imitations of 
Chinese or Japanese ornament. On the bottom of 
the case, in front of a beautiful platter of rayonnant 
design (fig. 134), is a plate with the arms of the ducal 
house of Richelieu; the tone of blue indicates a 
Moustiers origin. In the case are also several ex- 
amples of the rayonnant pattern carried out in poly- 
chrome. 

The next case (E) is entirely of Rouen ware, mostly 
of the second group characterized by Oriental and 
rococo motives. On the two upper shelves are 
several pieces decorated with freely drawn floral 
forms on a cobalt ground. These are Rouen imita- 
tions of Nevers ware in the “Persian style” (fig. 91). 
On the bottom of the case is an interesting ink-stand 

306 


GALLERY F I7 


of early eighteenth-century date. The polychrome 
series 1s continued in the succeeding case (F), where 
nearly half the material shown was made probably 
by the potter Guillibaud, whose work is distinguished 
by a use of Oriental motives, particularly panels of 
latticework on the borders (fig. 136). The platter on 
the top shelf decorated with a floral spray formed part 
of a set offered to Frederick II of Luxemburg on his 
visit to Rouen, and may 
thus be dated 1728. The 
accosted arms are those 
of Luxemburg and 
Montmorency. 

Above the cases on 
this wall are shown three 
decorative canvases in- 
tended for over-doors. 
The central one (fig. 139), 
with its group of infants Se aera 
en camaieu, is attributed BY GUILLIBAUD 
to Madame Vallayer- ROUEN, ABOUT 1720 
Coster. To the left of 
the doorway is an eighteenth-century canvas of a 
spaniel and ducks, probably painted for an over-door. 

The two remaining cases of faience stand on either 
side of a handsome Louis XV marble mantel, on 
which is a contemporary replica in miniature of an 
equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Francois Girardon, 
the original of which was destroyed during the French 
Revolution. The great mirror-frame? is a fine piece 
of eighteenth-century work with its original gilding. 
The pieces in Case G, to the right of the mantel, are 





2The mirror is modern; the frame may originally have been intended 
for a painting. 


oo 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


all of Rouen provenance, mostly in the style @ /a 
corne (fig. 132), except the marbled brown and cream 
vase in the center. This is from the small pottery of 
Apt, Vaucluse, and dates probably from the third 
quarter of the eighteenth century. The white 
platter with rococo border is an undecorated Rouen 
piece of a type presumably made to meet the demand 





FIG. 137. PLATEAU 
BY PIERRE CHAPELLE 
ROUEN, ABOUT 1720 


for a cheap substitute for the white faience of Lor- 
raine. 

The last case (H) contains examples of late eight- 
eenth-century faience which was largely influenced 
by the decoration of contemporaneous porcelain. 
The three principal centers of production represented 
are Marseilles, Sceaux, and Rouen. Typical of the 
ware produced at Rouen under the direction of Le- 
vasseur are a charming little cruet-stand and the 
plate adjacent to it on the left!” The plaresasneee 
rim pierced in the Dresden manner, is from the pot- 
cery of the Veuve Perrin at Marseilles. The sauce- 
tureen on the upper shelf, probably a Rouen piece, is 

308 


GALLERY F 17 


of exceptional quality and beauty of design. The 
potteries of Sceaux are represented by the two end 
plates on the middle shelf and by the shallow basin 
on the floor of the case with a painting of Leda 
and the Swan. A plate, upon which is painted an 
incident from the Battle of Lodi, is a characteristic 
example of early nineteenth-century faience. 

Nearby, on the window wall, are two Louis XVI 
over-doors (one representing Henri IV); and a large 
polychrome Rouen platter (fig. 137) by Pierre Cha- 
pelle, about 1720. Beneath the windows are two 
arm-chairs in the Louis XV style, upholstered with 
typical mid-eighteenth-century tapestries in the ex- 
treme rococo manner of Meissonier, and a mantel- 
piece of Rouen faience of the mid-century. On 
either side of the latter are two newel posts. One, 
painted to imitate marble, is in the Louis XV rococo 
style; the other, in the style of Louis XVI, recalls 
the manner of Lalonde. Above the latter is a plate 
of Moustiers ware of the early eighteenth century 
representing an ostrich hunt, after a design by 
Tempesta. The balancing piece, representing Venus 
and Adonis, is a Rouen work painted by Claude 
Borne, signed and dated 1736. 


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Cietalel aio 
INTRODUCTION 


Early in the second half of the eighteenth century 
the rococo was suddenly abandoned in fashionable 
circles, and a new style, which derived its principal 
characteristics from the forms and ornament of 
classical art, made its appearance. A reaction from 
the exuberance of the rococo was inevitable. This 
style had been carried to its ultimate perfection; it 
was squeezed dry of surprise. But the classical ori- 
entation of the new style and its rapid development 
were due in large measure to the intellectual move- 
ment which, after the middle of the century, gath- 
ered swift momentum until it swept France into 
the maelstrom of revolution. 

In the first half of the century Montesquieu gave 
expression in his Lettres persanes to the growing 
dissatisfaction with existing political and social con- 
ditions. He was followed after 1750 by a brilliant 
galaxy of writers who devoted their pens to the cause 
ofreform. In every form of literature /es philosophes, 
as these writers were called, attacked the ignorance, 
stupidity, and superstition which surrounded them. 
Diderot’s Encyclopedia was the rallying ground for 
these philosophizing /ittérateurs; their great leaders 
were Voltaire and Rousseau; their war cry, ration- 


ois 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


alism and humanity; their weapons, truth and knowl 
edge; their program, Accept nothing for granted—in- 
vestigate everything. 

In thus taking stock of the sum of human knowl- 
edge, the civilization of the ancient world was sub- 
mitted to a closer examination than ever before. 
Inspired by the discoveries at Herculaneum and 
Pompeii (1738-1763) of a classical art seemingly at 
variance with the traditional canons, the learned 
Winckelmann attempted to reconstruct and restate 
the principles of ancient art. The Recueil d’anti- 
quités (1752-1767) of the Comte de Caylus depicted 
the glories of the antique monuments encountered 
in his travels. During the years 1750-1765 ap- 
peared numerous works in both French and English 
which gave authentic and detailed accounts of the 
best existing remains of antiquity. The civilization 
which had produced these great monuments was also 
the subject of no less fervent an examination, since 
in the history of the past might be discovered the 
solution of present problems. 

Wearied of an artificiality which had lost its savor, 
society found a fresh zest in the doctrines of /es 
philosophes, and half sincerely, half as a delightfully 
novel pose, accepted the cult of rationalism and the 
return to nature. For its new réle a new setting was 
requisite. Thus the rococo came to be thrown aside 
into the discard of outworn fashions, and a new style 
developed that combined reminiscences of the antique 
with the ribboned hat, the rustic tools, and the glean- 
ings of well-ordered gardens which to the declining 
eighteenth century symbolized the happier existence 
of unsophisticated man. 

Mme. de Pompadour was among the first to 


314 


SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII——-EARLY XIX CENTURY 


’ 


adopt the “antique.” She sent her brother—later, as 
Marquis de Marigny, the artistic dictator of France 
—to study the remains of 
classical art in Italy under 
the guidance of the architect, 
Soufflot, and of the engraver, 
Cochin, who, although in his 
time a designer in the rococo 
style, was one of the first to 
inveigh against it in the press. 
Under such powerful patron- 
age the new ideas gained 
popularity so rapidly that 
even by 1760 everything had 
to be @ Ja grecque to be in 
the mode. 

The impulse to this revival 
of the antique came, then, 
from the intellectuals and 
littérateurs rather than from 
the developing taste of the 
efaitsmian, as. Mad the pre- 
ceding style. Since the exist- 
ing monuments of antiquity 
were almost entirely architec- 
tural, the architects naturally 
assumed the leadership, and 
soon retrieved their former 
position as directors of the 





; FIG. 138. 
public taste. The decorators LOUIS XVI PANEL 
now followed rather than led, PAINTING ON CANVAS 


and were in consequence the 
conservative element. Thus, while the general scheme 
of a decoration might be thoroughly in the classical 


3*5 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


mode, its detailed treatment would often be reminis- 
cent of the earlier style. But as time went on, the 
style hardened; the precedent of classical example 
was observed more strictly; and the way prepared 
for the pedantic neo-classicism which appeared at the 
close of the Louis XVI period and dominated the 
art of the Empire. Side by side with these evidences 
of classicism the sentimental naturalism preached by 
Rousseau expressed itself in sprays of flowers and 
emblems of country life which afforded a certain 
freedom of treatment to the decorator. In these and 
the transformed classical arabesques the spirit of the 
rococo found a last refuge. 

Political and social influences play relatively little 
or no part in these changes of the mid-eighteenth 
century. France was at peace with her neighbors 
with the exception of England, whose growing power 
she attempted to curb by aiding the American col- 
onies in their War of Independence. Nevertheless, 
despite political rivalry, English taste and fashion 
exerted some influence upon French art of this 
period when English political and social institutions 
were a source of inspiration to the French reformers. 

Socially the patronage of art underwent no change, 
as no element entered the privileged circles which 
had not played a part in the preceding reign. The 
interests of the ruling class remained the same, and 
the new style entered as a superimposed fashion 
rather than as a radical change necessitated by new 
conditions. For similar reasons, economic forces 
had little to do with the new style. The huge ex- 
penditures of the court continued in spite of the ef- 
forts of Necker to introduce economy and to reor- 
ganize the finances of the state. The government 

316 


SeecUND HALE OF THE XVIII-——-EARLY XIX CENTURY 


ran further and further into debt, aided by a parasitic 
nobility which had for the most part exhausted the 
productivity of its own estates. The total wealth of 
the country, however, was constantly on the increase, 
the gain accruing mainly to the merchant classes, 
whose increasing importance and influence were 
finally to make possible the revolt of the Third Es- 
tate and the end of the monarchy. 

In architecture, the reign of Louis XVI (1774-1793) 
saw the end of one epoch and the beginning of an- 
other. On the one hand, the native academic tradi- 
tion culminated in the work of J. A. Gabriel; on the 
other, Souffot’s departures in Ste. Geneviéve (now 
the Panthéon), begun in 1754, definitely initiated the 
era of modern eclecticism. Gabriel has already been 
mentioned as the architect of the facades on the 
Place de la Concorde. His formula for all monu- 
mental work was practically that established by 
Perrault in the seventeenth century—that of a two- 
story order over a rusticated basement. This he 
used both at Compiégne and in the forecourt at Ver- 
sailles, but his masterpiece, and one of the gems of 
French architecture, is the Petit Trianon, given to 
Mme. du Barry by Louis XV. 

In general the changes brought about in the aca- 
demic style by the classical revival were the aban- 
donment of curved forms, excepting the circle and 
the ellipse; the restriction of ornament to mould- 
ings, panels, and occasional accents; a great increase 
in uninterrupted smooth wall surface with a decrease 
in the amount of projections and reveals; and a gen- 
eral refinement of scale. In ornament, the asym- 
metric freedom of the rococo gave place to a strict 
axial balance of motive by motive, and the scroll and 


oy 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


shell disappeared before carefully controlled floral 
forms and orthodox mouldings. The three classic or- 
ders came, of course, into greater prominence, with a 
marked tendency to follow the proportions found in 
existing remains rather than the Vitruvian formulae. 

In the work of the innovators, Soufflot, Boulée, 
and Pierre Rousseau, a much more definite attempt 
to produce the architecture of ancient Rome 1s ap- 
parent. The Panthéon, with its hexastyle portico 
and walls of unpierced masonry, shows this clearly, 
and the same tendency is exemplified in such private 
buildings as the Hotel de Salm. In the latter, the 
windows of the second floor are omitted to obtain a 
classic one-story effect, deliberately sacrificing utility 
in order to follow more closely a preconceived no- 
tion of the antique. Fortunately, in the majority 
of private dwellings common sense prevented these 
extremes, which are more characteristic of the suc- 
ceeding period. As the style developed, however, 
porticos with low-pitched pediments, masking colon- 
nades, and flat balustraded roofs appeared with in- 
creasing frequency. 

Although about 1780 the Louis XVI style had 
reached its apex in architecture, sculpture was still 
under the spell of the softened naturalism of Falco- 
net and Pajou, which, only faintly tinged with classi- 
cism, continued the tradition of the earlier period. 
This naturalism was accentuated by Jean Antoine 
Houdon, one of the greatest sculptors of modern 
times, who discarded the prettiness of his predeces- 
sors while avoiding the hardness of the neo-class- 
icists. Houdon’s work has such universality that 
it perhaps passes the limits of a style; yet, by and 
large, it is the logical culmination of the tendency 

318 


SECONDS aALr (OFS THE XVITI—-EARLY XIX CENTURY 


toward greater and greater individualism which ran 
throughout the eighteenth century. The genre of 
decorative figurines—so in character with the spirit 
of the rococo—culminated, in the work of Claude Mi- 
chel, called Clodion. The marvelous dexterity of this 
artist, whose terracottas of sporting nymphs and 
satyrs are among the most prized possessions of con- 
noisseurs, was devoted to purely decorative purposes, 








FIG. 139. OVER-DOOR PAINTING 
ATTRIBUTED TO MME. VALLAYER-COSTER 


and expresses as nothing else the facile and sensuous 
spirit of the age. 

This rococo spirit survives also in the work of the 
painters trained under the influence of Boucher. 
Fragonard, to the end of his days in 1806, was only 
superficially influenced by the classicists, while the 
school of miniaturists as represented by Baudouin 
continued to delight the amateur with their charming 
if licentious sketches. The Rousseauesque senti- 
mentalists welcomed with acclaim the first work of 
Greuze, who attempted with the aid of much tech- 
nical skill to render morality palatable by a sugaring 
of sensuality which spoils all but his lovely portraits 


sues 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


of childhood. The feeling for natural beauty in land- 
scape received little encouragement from the new 
spirit. What little there is shows itself rather in the 
passing school, for a true observation of natural form, 
although somewhat theatrical in handling, is evident 
in Fragonard’s work. With his contemporary, Hu- 
bert Robert, the decorative point of view is para- 
mount, and the classical ruins are used in a somewhat 
sentimental way with the object of blending both 
currents of fashionable taste. 

While the fire of rococo art was flickering out in a 
haze of sentimentality, the younger generation was 
being initiated into the formal glories of classic sculp- 
ture and archaeology under the tutelage of Vien in 
the Academy at Rome. Since practically no exam- 
ples of classical painting existed, except of purely 
decorative character, ancient sculpture had perforce 
to serve as preceptor; hence, the importance given 
to form and modeling and the entirely secondary 
position to which color was relegated. These sculp- 
tural qualities, embodied in subjects drawn from 
ancient history, found their chief exponent in David, 
whose Oath of the Horatii took Paris by storm in 
1784. Austerity and accurate delineation of form 
were now to dominate French painting for some 
years to come, although for a while portraiture re- 
tained much of the charm of the earlier style. 

The true style of Louis XVI is essentially one of 
transition. In both painting and sculpture, con- 
sidered apart from decoration, the change from the 
spirit of the rococo to that of the Empire is on the 
whole an abrupt one. In architecture the transition 
covered a longer period, but involved no violent 
break with tradition. The most truly characteristic 

320 


SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII—EARLY XIX CENTURY 


products of the style, and perhaps its most charm- 
ing, are those of the decorator and of the worker in 
the minor arts. 

The first break with the rococo is marked by a 
return to the principles of symmetrical balance and, 
in some degree, to the heavy forms of the seventeenth 
century. The designs of Charles Delafosse, published 
in 1768, show this most clearly. His style grecque 
does not entirely abandon the curve, but is charac- 
terized by the use of consoles with square volutes, a 
heavier scale in the mouldings, and a liberal employ- 
ment of the Greek fret. In interior treatment this 
preliminary state is well exemplified in some of the 
designs of Boucher //s; here the lines of the paneling 
are strictly rectangular, with a well-defined cornice, 
but an occasional lintel or over-door retains the 
earlier curved forms. The complete victory of the 
strictly architectural treatment came very speedily. 
Full orders on the interior were seldom used, but 
a strongly marked cornice—often with modillions; a 
dado treated as a pedestal; and the simple verticals 
and horizontals of the paneling gave a framework 
quite incapable of rococo waywardness. The chim- 
ney breast was faced with a large mirror in a simple 
moulded frame, the mantel being either a lintel sup- 
ported on consoles, or a miniature classic order. The 
panels were often left plain, but when decorated it 
was generally with an arabesque or trophy, either 
carved or painted. Carved ornament as before was 
generally gilded to contrast with the light background, 
but in smaller rooms of an informal character the 
decoration was usually painted in natural colors on 
the flat surface, and gilding omitted or sparingly used. 

All this ornament was of a rather fine scale to 


321 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


correspond with that of its architectural setting. A 
jewel-like working of form, whether in wood, bronze, 
marble, or paint, is one of the most outstanding 
characteristics of the style and one of its chief charms. 
The decoration by the brothers Rousseau at Ver- 
sailles and Fontainebleau may be taken as typical 
of the best work of the time. The publications of 
the designers, Prieur, Lalonde, and Salembier, give a 
complete résumé of the ornament in fashion, but 
show little variety other than personal interpreta- 
tions of the arabesque and rinceau. The engravings 
of Ranson and Pillement, the latter recalling the 
Louis XV chinoiseries, were the source of much of the 
delightful floral designs found not only in painted 
wall decorations but also on the textiles and ceramics 
of the period. Just prior to the Revolution the ara- 
besque tends to become dry and lifeless, but previous 
to this, although classical in subject, the archaeolog- 
ical element is inconspicuous. Urns, lyres, tripods, 
and sphinxes mingle with grotesque masks, swags, 
garlands, and dancing nymphs in a delightful inter- 
play of line and color. 

To this architectural background, furniture had 
of course to conform. The cabriole leg became for a 
time the bracket scroll, or, in the case of the delicate 
boudoir furniture then in vogue, was reduced to a 
very slight curve. The straight, turned leg, how- 
ever, is general, both on chairs and tables, by about 
1770. This leg is commonly fluted, more or less in 
the manner of a classic column, and supports a hori- 
zontal member modeled after a classic lintel or cor- 
nice. As in the preceding period, these chairs and 
console-tables were made of beech or oak, painted 
or gilded, while cabinets, commodes, desks, and oc- 

322 


NOfid ‘Nr1nVO 14LQH SJHL WOU AXYOMAOOM IAX SINOT 
WOOUdATT AO MAIA ‘OVI “OIA 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


casional furniture were veneered and decorated with 
marquetry and ormolu. Materials and methods of 
decoration were changed but little from the previ- 
ous style, the modifications being almost entirely in 
form and scale of treatment. J. H. Riesener, the 
successor of Oeben, is representative of the group 
of marvelous craftsmen who made the most beautiful 
furniture of this period. Beneman, who popularized 
the use of mahogany in France, Dubois, Saunier, 
and later, Carlin and ,Weisweiler are only a few of 
those whose taste and personality have come down 
to us embodied in masterpieces of cabinet-work. 
Each of these had some peculiarity in design or in use 
of material which made him often the center of a little 
school of ébéntstes. 

Mention is now in order of the workers in gilded 
bronze, notably Gouthiére, Thomire, and Forestier, 
on whom the cabinet-makers relied so greatly for the 
decoration of this sumptuous furniture. Although 
following probably the designs of architects and 
sculptors such as Bellanger and Boizot, these crafts- 
men gave to their work an exquisite, living quality 
of modeling and surface, a perfection of chiseling 
and gilding which often permits us to count furniture 
mounts, clocks, candelabra, sconces, and similar works 
in ormolu among the greatest achievements of eight- 
eenth-century art. The smiling, graceful nymphs 
and sparkling foliage of Gouthiére hold their place 
with the finest products of Cressent and Philippe 
Cafheri1.. The best work of Gouthiére’s pupil, Tho- 
mire, is very similar, but in its later phases hardens 
and finally succumbs to the rigidity of the Empire 
style. 

In addition to surface decoration of exotic woods 


324 


SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII-——EARLY XIX CENTURY 


either in pictorial or geometrical marquetry, relieved 
with mouldings and appliqués of ormolu, designers 
such as Carlin made use of plaques of soft-paste 
Sévres, decorated in polychrome, generally with 
sprays of flowers or a pastoral scene in the style 
of Boucher. This usage became very popular, al- 
though in somewhat doubtful taste since the contrast 
with the soft, warm tones of the woodwork is a diffi- 
cult one to manage. It seems to be a sign not only 
of the continued popularity of the products of the 
Sévres factory, but of the lowered standard of taste 
through an over-eager striving for novelty. 

As mentioned in a previous chapter, the mid- 
century products of the Vincennes-Sévres kilns were 
in the rococo taste. This style persisted more or 
less under the successive artistic direction of Falco- 
net and Boizot until about 1780. By 1760, however, 
a marked simplification of form begins to appear, and 
at the same time many of the classic details common 
to contemporary decoration come into use. This 
was probably the finest period of Sévres before the 
introduction of hard paste in 1768. Fifteen years 
later, unadulterated classicism and the popularity 
of the harsher hard paste had caused a conspicuous 
deterioration in the quality of the product. During 
this period the factory also produced large quantities 
of the fine biscuit ware in the form of decorative 
groups after Falconet and Clodion, which were used 
as substitutes for original marbles or terracottas. 

In 1766 Francois Thomas Germain, son of the 
famous silversmith of the early part of the century, 
announced the production of a series of vases antiques. 
The designers of the period, Delafosse, Cauvet, and 
Lalonde, all furnished patterns for vases or table 


028, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


pieces in which, as in contemporary porcelain, the 
flowing lines of the mid-century forms were straight- 
ened and simplified, although classical motives and 
mouldings continued to share ornamental honors 
with earlier scroll and floral forms. The supple line 
of the rococo, so suited to the material, was aban- 
doned slowly, however, and a free treatment of the 
acanthus and endive motives is not unusual well to- 
ward the end of the period. 

The abandonment of the rococo was a distinct blow 
to the ironworker who could not take refuge in the 
jewel-like perfection striven for by the workers in the 
finer metals. The smith’s art did not immediately 
decline, and work like that of Bigonnet on the gates 
of the Palais de Justice at Paris shows remarkable 
skill in the use of classic detail and motives. The 
forms, however, are not sympathetic, and the style 
is only thoroughly successful in small panels of grill- 
work when no monumental effect is attempted. The 
designs of Lalonde and Forty illustrate the adapta- 
tion of classic forms to ironwork, but the smiths 
themselves have left no published designs. 

In general, textile designs underwent at this time 
the same diminution in scale noticeable throughout 
contemporary decoration. The undulating line char- 
acteristic of the mid-century patterns was straight- 
ened, and the delicate flower sprays already noted 
in connection with the porcelains appeared on the 
brocades held in by vertical stripes of different weave 
or color, accompanied with knots and garlands of 
ribbon, pastoral trophies, emblems of love, and all — 
the current decorative motives in miniature. In the 
atelier of Philippe de la Salle at Lyons were pro- 
duced fabrics of large-scale design of great vigor 

326 


SECOND HALE OF THE XVIII—-EARLY XIX CENTURY 


and individuality which spread the fame of these 
looms all over Europe. The abolition of the strict 
guild control of the maitrise in 1784 permitted the 
manufacture of printed cottons, the famous foiles de 
jouy representing the typical classical designs of the 
period. 

In tapestry design the school of Boucher continued 
to hold the field until the 
Revolution. In 1787 the pro- 
duction of a series illustrating 
the life of Henri IV after car- 
toons in the classic manner 
by Vincent was undertaken 
but not finished. The end of 
the ancien régime came before 
David and his followers had 
a chance to find substitutes 
for the gay deities of Boucher. 
In the decorative tapestries 
woven at the Beauvais fac- 
mee leee esate sup- i 7 dane DE BAL 
plemented by floral designs MINIATURE BY SICARDI 
after Ranson; as in the case 
of the Gobelins, the growth of classicism showed itself 
in little save the severer ornament of the borders. 

By 1790, the architecture of Bellanger, the furni- 
ture of Weisweiler, and the decorations of Cauvet 
announce the beginning of the Empire style, although 
the phases of the Directoire and Consulate had yet 
to be developed before its culmination in the style 
of Percier and Fontaine. 

As in the earlier years of the century, the rest of 
Europe followed the leadership of Paris, although 
in England the new influences came perhaps more 


Toe 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


directly from Italy and Greece. In Austria and 
Germany, and even in Italy, the French styles were 
taken as a model but interpreted in a manner char- 
acteristic of national taste. 

England in particular developed a distinctly 
national art. In 1760 the gospel of classicism was 
vigorously stated by Robert Adam, who became for 
about a quarter of a century the dictator of English 
architectural] and decorative taste. With the aid of 
the Italians, Pergolesi and Cipriani, and the painter, 
Angelica Kauffmann, an enormous amount of work 
was turned out which changed ornamental fashion 
at that time more completely than in contemporary 
France. The designs of the Adam brothers for fur- - 
niture, executed by the leading cabinet-makers of 
the day, Chippendale among others, were less in- 
dividual than their purely decorative compositions, 
but show clearly the same influences that were de- 
. veloping the French style of Louis XVI. The fine 
scale of the new ornament fostered the use of paint 
and composition rather than carving in the solid. 
The resulting style was elegant and delicately austere, 
but with a tendency to be rather dry and spindling. 
When the Adam brothers undertook to decorate a 
house, every detail from the facade to the pattern 
of the carpets was designed under their personal 
direction, thus attaining a completeness of effect 
hitherto unknown in the decorative arts. | 

In this connection should be mentioned the furni- 
ture designs of Thomas Sheraton who, with Thomas 
Chippendale and George Hepplewhite, forms the 
great trilogy of English eighteenth-century cabinet- 
makers and designers. Sheraton’s designs, published 
in 1792, reveal the influence of the Louis XVI style, 

328 


SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII—EARLY XIX CENTURY 


yet a comparison with contemporary French work 
will show how distinctly national they are. Under 
Thomas Wedgwood, English ceramics excelled both 
in technique and quality of design, and his plaques 
of figure designs in white on blue, black, or yellow 
ground became famous throughout Europe. A 
great deal of the credit for this preéminence is due, 
however, to the exquisite work of the sculptor, Flax- 
man, who made a large number of Wedgwood’s 
models, and to the timely introduction of classical 
forms and motives. 

In painting, this was the great age of English art. 
Reynolds lived till 1792; Gainsborough died only a 
few years earlier, in 1788. Besides these great names, 
those of Romney, Raeburn, Lawrence, Hoppner, and 
Crome make this not only the golden age of Eng- 
lish portraiture, but the nursery of the great school 
of landscape which played so important a part in the 
development of French painting after the Empire. 
Strict classicism was never so much at home in Eng- 
land as in France, its chief exponent being the little- 
inspired Benjamin West. 

To return to France, we have noted that the com- 
plete dominance of classicism was assured before the 
collapse of the monarchy in 1793. What would have 
happened in the world of art had the Revolution 
been avoided it is impossible to say, but the events of 
1790-1800 resulted in a definite break with tradition. 
All that in the least savored of the ancient régime 
fell into disrepute, and the field was swept clear for 
whatever might be taken to express the new civil 
liberty. 

During the years of chaos and warfare previous to 
the Consulate of Napoleon, nothing of a really con- 


ge9 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


structive nature was possible. The skeleton of the 
Louis XVI style, stripped of all its amenities, was 
partially rivaled by fads growing out of the military 
accomplishments of the young republic. From this 
time we have rooms treated as field tents, liberally 
sprinkled with emblems of classical warfare; and 
beds with testers upheld by crossed spears, crowned 
with the cap of liberty. Baldness and barrenness 
were regarded as the virtues of Spartan simplicity, 
with which the lack of variety in classical furniture 
and the physical hardiness of the “natural man” 
accorded perfectly, 

With the establishment of internal peace and a 
prosperity resulting from military victory, Napoleon 
attempted to revivify the arts and industries and to 
create a style which would redound to his imperial 
fame, as that nurtured by Colbert had glorified Louis 
XIV. During the Directoire, the painter, David, had 
brought to Bonaparte’s notice the young architects, 
Percier and Fontaine, who were past-masters of the 
deroyalized classicism then in vogue. When the 
Spartan republicanism of the nineties was trans- 
formed into an aggressive imperialism the new 
Caesar turned to ancient Rome for inspiration; to 
David and his architectural lieutenants is due a large 
part of the distinction to which the resulting style 
sometimes attained. Percier and Fontaine played 
in this a role similar to that of the Adam brothers in 
England. They furnished designs for everything 
that pertained to the decorative arts, and generally 
avoided by their trained taste the pitfalls which en- 
trapped their imitators. 

Although David undoubtedly aspired to be a sec- 
ond Lebrun and to that end attained the position of 


Jo” 


SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII—EARLY XIX CENTURY 


premier peintre and a patent of authority as general 
director of the national arts, Bonaparte himself had 
no small opinion of his own powers of discrimination, 
and let them be felt accordingly. The glorification 
of the military heroes of the past implied that of the 
present. The constant recurrence of the imperial 
emblems and the establishment of a pomp and luxury 
at court surpassing that of the old régime were also 
the outcome of Napoleon’s direct care. David was 
not allowed to work unhampered. 

The prime requisite that the arts of the Empire 
had to fulfil was that of splendor. Had the patron- 
age been that of a cultivated and polished generation, 
all might have been well, but the vast majority of the 
imperial entourage were “new men,” more at home 
in the camp than in the salon. Woman, who had 
played such an important part in the establishment 
of previous standards of taste, was definitely rele- 
gated to a secondary place, and her influence largely 
limited to the domain of fashion and dress. Due 
to these and other causes, the resulting magnifi- 
cence was of the most obvious and broad-handed 
sort. Strident color and heavy mass gave their 
own authority, like the heavy boom of an army 
sergeant’s voice. The delicacy of the style of Louis 
XVI, that haunted the tentative fashions of the 
Directoire, disappeared. The keynote of the new 
decoration is given by the brilliant and determined 
contrast of clearly outlined ormolu on red mahogany, 
and the gorgeousness of crimson velvet and gold 
brocades. 

A survey of the major arts will show that, in 
painting, classical themes shared popularity with 
those inspired by the Napoleonic wars in which the 


338 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


note of dawning romanticism was obscured by 
the heavy periods of classic oratory. In the work 
of Prudhon survived some of the sentiment of earlier 
days, but in combination with the classic canon it 
resulted in a rather disagreeable, saccharine quality. 
Among the painters of the day only Ingres, in his 
early work, escaped from the banal by a close study 
of nature. The school is seen at its best in portrai- 
ture. 

In sculpture the principal exponent of the classical 
school—occupying a position similar to that of David 
in painting—was the Italian, Canova, whose senti- 
mental exercises in the antique manner were ac- 
corded, by his contemporaries, a fulsome meed of 
praise. As to France, the worship of the antique was 
so essentially superficial and so opposed to the true 
Gallic appreciation of form that few sculptors of any 
moment were produced at this time. An exception 
may be made for Chinard, whose remarkable gifts 
as a naturalistic sculptor in the genre of Houdon were 
only partially hidden behind the classical mask. 

Contemporary criticism of architecture seems to 
have been based on the axiom that the structures of 
antiquity could never be surpassed. Therefore, the 
nearer a modern building came to that ideal, the 
closer it was to perfection. The Arc du Carrousel 
(1806), the Madeleine (begun 1807), and the 
Chambre des Députés (1807) exemplify this theory. 
Although correct in detail and proportion, they are 
almost entirely lacking in real architectural quality, 
owing to their second-hand character and to the 
basic unsuitability of form. 

The quality of the new decoration has already been 
hinted at. In the hands of accomplished artists, such 


ue 


SBRCONDOIAgr OF THE XVIII-—-EARLY XIX CENTURY 


as Percier and Fontaine, it often attains a great de- 
gree of refinement and formal distinction. But as 
shown above, the style was essentially one of parade, 
and when a lighter touch was tried the result was 
often ludicrous if not shocking. A limited vocabulary 
of classical motives—wreaths, paterae, frigid foli- 
age, cornucopias, torches, urns, Winged victories and 
Pegasi, swans and Psyches—is employed indiscrim1- 
nately in bands or accents of uncompromising out- 
line and little significance. This indiscriminate usage 
was deplored by Percier, but the new rich patrons 
of this decoration cared little so long as the effect was 
gorgeous and @ /a mode. It is only fair to note, 
however, that the workmanship was often greatly 
superior to the design, particularly in the accessories 
of decoration; the furniture of Jacob Desmalter and 
the metalwork of Thomire and Odiot are worthy of 
their predecessors. 

With the collapse of the Empire in 1815, the razson 

étre of the imperial style ceased to exist, as did also 
the central authority behind it. The style lingered 
on, however, under the Restoration, gradually losing 
what vigor and merit it possessed, rivaled by equally 
tasteless Gothic revivals and Oriental innovations. 

During the Napoleonic régime the rest of Europe 
had little cause to celebrate a Roman triumph, yet 
the habit of looking to Paris for leadership in taste 
had become so thoroughly established that other 
countries followed her lead, even when the armies 
of Napoleon were overrunning their soil. Even 
England, the arch-enemy of Bonapartism, followed 
the trend, and some of the furniture for the royal 
residence at Windsor was produced by Jacob Des- 
malter in Paris. The Empire forms in England, how- 


B53 


THE PIERPONT) ‘MORGAN DWING 


ever, were tempered for a time by the delicacy of 
Sheraton, and in Germany the “Biedermeier” style 
showed somewhat the same character. But by 1830, 
decorative taste in every field had declined, as in 
Paris, to all kinds of standardless revivals. 

Even had the Bonapartist dynasty succeeded in 
imposing itself permanently upon the French, it is 
doubtful whether the Empire style could have be- 
come the basis for a new tradition, as had that of 
Louis XIV. In the first place, it had come as an 
imposed style of predetermined limitations, with little 
relation to the actual life of the people. The Revolu- 
tion had also destroyed the old source of constant 
and cultivated patronage, and several generations 
would have been required under the most favorable 
circumstances before it could have been replaced. 
The abolition of the guilds, commenced by Louis 
XVI in 1784, was completed at his fall. The con- 
sequent lapse of the apprentice system stopped the 
supply of skilled craftsmen working along traditional, 
slowly developing lines. Thus the way was prepared 
for slovenly workmanship and for ill-considered 
design since the abject copying of classic forms led 
naturally to superficial imitation of other styles of 
the past, when the novelty of the antique palled. 
The standards of artistic production were further 
depressed by another and even more serious factor. 
The Industrial Revolution, beginning in England in 
the last years of the eighteenth century with the 
steam engine of Watt and the power loom of Ark- 
wright, initiated the era of quantity production and 
specialization. The artist-craftsman creating an 
object from the raw material was driven out of the 
market, for the factory product, standardized and 


334 


SeeoNDoiwtce OF THE XVIII--EARLY XIX. CENTURY 


cheaply assembled, made an irresistible appeal both 
to the pocket and to the untrained taste of the in- 
dustrial dourgeoisie. 

The French Revolution seems, therefore, but to 
have precipitated an artistic cataclysm already pre- 
ordained by radical, social, and economic changes of 
which the Revolution itself was only a symptom. 
The arts of the Renaissance, fostered by the order 
that produced them, were bound to pass with that 
order. The nineteenth century we can see as part of 
a great transition still in progress, and perhaps best 
expressed by the artistic conflict for which it stands. 


SBE} 


CHAPTER II 
GALLERIES F I8 AND Ig 


As Gallery F 18, the south balcony overlooking the 
main hall, offers little wall space, the exhibits here are 
limited to a few objects, among which may be noted 
tinted plaster busts of Voltaire and Rousseau by 
Houdon, and a large over-mantel mirror-frame in the 
Louis XVI style. With Gallery F 19 begins a series 
of rooms devoted principally to woodwork and furni- 
ture of the Louis XVI period. 

On the left, as one enters Gallery F 19, is the 
woodwork of the enframement of a_bed-alcove. 
Unfortunately, many coats of calcimine have ob- 
scured the original painting and gilding, but the 
quality of the carving may still be discerned. In 
proportions as in ornament this architectural frag- 
ment is a work of high order. The cornice has 
been restored, and two paintings substituted for lost 
originals in the roundels above the two small doors 
which gave access to the little rooms serving as 
varde-robe and cabinet behind the bed-alcove. In the 
opening are shown various decorative fragments and 
a sketchily painted canvas of a lady in the costume of 
the seventeen-eighties, seated on a couch with an 
embroidery frame at her side. Beneath the painting - 
is a fine console, the mate of which is exhibited on the 


336 


GALLERIES F IS AND 1g 


east wall. The two carved panels on either side of 
the alcove are decorated with trophies symbolizing 
the continents of Europe and Africa, and must origi- 
nally have formed part of a series. 

Occupying the central position on the wall opposite 
the windows is a series of five panels painted with 
the light and graceful arabesques particularly favored 
by the decorators of this period. The inspiration for 
these designs came from Italian Renaissance sources, 
revived by the rediscovery of the lightly handled 
grotesques of Pompeii. But the eighteenth-century 
artist by his introduction of naturalistic floral devices 
in the form of garlands, knots, and delicate vine-like 
tendrils, developed an extremely individual form of 
decoration, highly characteristic of the Louis XVI 
style. Painted paneling of this kind played a much 
greater part in the interior decoration of the Louis 
XVI period than in the previous régime, and tended 
more and more to displace carving and gilding. In 
the upper part of the central panel is a medallion 
symbolic of winter; small allegorical scenes were 
not infrequently combined with arabesque motives. 
The panels in this group formed part of the wall 
covering of a small room, which must have suffered 
from neglect and weather, as the condition of the 
painting indicates. More than enough remains, how- 
ever, to give ample evidence of the fine quality of the 
work. 

On the same wall are two fragments of wood 
paneling, decorated with flowers painted on a cream- 
colored ground: the floral motives are of the type 
popularized by Ranson and called after him ran- 
sonettes. Between these painted panels are exqul- 
sitely carved pilasters, originally painted and gilded. 


S37 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


The arabesque designs of the late Renaissance 
type are in the style of Salembier, who published 
in 1777 and 1778 a series of patterns for arabesques, 
friezes, and foliage motives. 

On the wall above are three over-door panels. 
That in the middle is one of a series ornamented with 
portrait medallions of famous architects; others of 
this set are shown in Gallery F 25. The panels on 
either side, together with a similar pair on the 
adjoining wall, represent the four seasons; this set is 
said to have come from the Chateau of Bagatelle 
(probably from the collections gathered there by the 
Marquis of Hertford, rather than from the original 
decorations carried out for the Comte d’Artois under 
the direction of the architect, Bellanger). The finely 
carved console has been previously mentioned. 

The central feature of the north wall is one of the 
gems of the collection—a section of paneling with 
painted decorations of the most exquisite quality 
(fig. 142). In subject these paintings belong to that 
fantastic class of orientalia which formed such a large 
part of the stock-in-trade of the eighteenth-century 
decorator. To the chinoiseries and singeries of the 
early years of Louis XV was added the decoration @ /a 
turque, which differed in little but details of costume. 
This interest in the Near East was perhaps stimulated 
by the curious garb of the ambassadors of the 
Sublime Porte to the court of Louis XV. At any 
rate, the French decorators were not slow to realize 
the voluptuous possibilities of the Grand Turk and 
his harem, and the bearded sons of Mohammed and 
their odalisques enjoyed a considerable popularity. 
In the Morgan panels the center of the upper design 
is occupied by a medallion en camaieu of a bashaw 


338 





FIG. 142. PAINTED PANELING 
WITH DECORATION “‘A LA TURQUE”’ 
FRENCH, PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


and his wives, but the real Turkish motive is given by 
the amorini, sporting in turbaned fez and baggy 
breeches. Several other panels of this series are 
known (three in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 
Paris); it has been said that these panels came from a 
boudoir turque of Marie Antoinette at Versailles, but 
they are more probably from the cabinet turque of the 
Comte d’Artois in the same palace, now destroyed. 
The authorship of the panels is uncertain. They 
have been attributed in turn to Fragonard, Rousseau 
de la Rotthiére, and, with more likelihood, to J. B. . 
Leprince, who excelled in work of this kind. 

The two adjacent arabesque paintings on canvas, 
attributed to the decorator, Le Riche, were originally 
in the mansion of the Duc d’Aumont, on the Place 
de la Concorde, now known as the Hétel Crillon. 
The central medallions, again en camaieu, render 
homage in the favorite pseudo-classic manner to 
Friendship and the Arts. Both in composition and 
detail the panels are typical of the light and graceful 
style which preceded the advent of rigid classicism. 
Above are the two over-doors previously mentioned, 
and between these is a charming oval frame of the 
period enclosing a piece of tapestry representing a 
girl laying an offering of roses on the altar of love. 
The contemporary vogue for decorations of ribbons 
and flowers is exemplified by a set of painted walls, 
of which two are shown on this wall and the remainder 
between the windows. 

In this gallery are two cases devoted to French 
bibelots of the eighteenth century. The Morgan 
collection of these finely designed and delicately 
wrought objects, which is distributed in Galleries 
F 19, 23, 24, and 25, is very representative, easily 


340 


GALLERIES F I8 AND Ig 


enabling us to understand the degree to which they 
have been sought and treasured by the connoisseur. 

Case A is devoted to carnets de bal (dance pro- 
grams) of the late eighteenth century. The name 
carnet de bal has been given somewhat inaccurately 
to this form of bibelot. The gold and enamel 
case with its ivory tablets and pencil was probably 
used for a variety of pur- 
poses besides dance memo- 
randa, and from the con- 
stantly recurring inscription 
—souvenir de lamitié, or de 
Pamour—was evidently a 
useful form of keepsake and 
token of affection. 

Among the more notable 
examples is one with a minia- 
ture portrait on ivory of a 
boy, attributed to Fragonard; 
another, particularly charm- 





ing, is decorated with a pas- FIG. 143. 

toral scene in enamel CARNET DE BAL 
t] yi) n MINIATURE OF 

representing eureuse ren- OU kegel Senet: BTS 


contre. Others worthy of BY LOUIS SICARDI 
especial note are those attrib- 

uted to Gault de St. Germain (pearl matrix with a 
miniature on ivory of the Graces) and to Louis Sicardi 
(a portrait miniature on ivory of Marie Antoinette) 
(fig. 143). Another with a miniature in grisaille on 
ivory is in the manner of Piat-Joseph Sauvage. 

In Case B are arranged snuff- and comfit-boxes of 
the second half of the eighteenth century; these are 
for the most part French, but a small number are 
English. Small sweetmeat-boxes existed in Europe 


341 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


as early as the Middle Ages; but not until the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the 
universal use of snuff made necessary the tabatiére, 
did this kind of bibelot under the name of bonbonniére 
reach its greatest development. It was, at this 
period, a sign of rank and a customary formal gift 
from one person of rank to another. The most 
distinguished jewelers and goldsmiths were employed 
in making these exquisite 
objects and the finest 
miniaturists furnished 
tiny paintings of consum- 
mate artistry.» Ehemdec: 
oration consisted of a 
setting of gold, enamel, 
and jewels, into which 
was often introduced a 
miniature scene or por- 
FIG. 144. BOX WITH PAINTING trait in enamel or in 

BY VAN BLARENBERGHE water-color, protected by 

crystal. 

The more interesting examples in Case B include 
two in bas-relief, one with a portrait bust of the 
Princess Marie de Lamballe by Clodion in discuit de 
Sévres, the other with a Wedgwood medallion after a 
design by Flaxman. There are three decorated with 
miniature scenes of festivals, battles, and landscapes 
on parchment by the famous van Blarenberghes, 
father and son. Among the finest portraits in this 
case are those of Louis XVI on ivory by Louis Sicardi 
and of Catherine II of Russia in enamel. Also 
worthy of notice is one with miniatures on ivory 
of Napoleon, the Empress Marie Louise, and the 
King of Rome, the last two by Isabey. 


342 





Cle baWead O] sdeeed a | 


G@EULERIES F 20, 21, AND 22 


THE HOTEL GAULIN BOISERIES 


In 1922 J. Pierpont Morgan presented to the Mu- 
seum the lavishly carved and gilded woodwork, with 
original mantels and mirrors, of a suite of three rooms 
—salon, library, and bed-chamber—from the Hotel 
Gaulin at Dijon (figs. 140, 145, 146). These beautiful 
examples of French interior decoration in the Louis 
XVI period (about 1770-80) are installed in Galleries 
F 20, 21, and 22, with practically no change from the 
original plan, and completed with furniture and 
other accessories of the period. Since most of the 
woodwork exhibited in the Morgan Wing is of a 
fragmentary character, these Jozseries, as complete 
ensembles illustrating the rich interior decoration 
of the eighteenth century just before the exquisite 
grace and fantasy of the Louis XVI style was frozen 
into rigidity by the cold formality of neo-classicism, 
are particularly welcome accessions. 

Jérome Marlet, of a family of Dijonnais wood 

1One of the four windows in the library has been made into a doorway 
connecting with Gallery F 19. Inthe bedroom, the two windows origi- 
nally flanking the alcove have been transposed to the opposite wall; the 
doorway opening into the salon has been moved from the present window 


wall to the wall opposite the mantel; and a new doorway provided to give 
access to Gallery F 23. 


O43 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


sculptors, is credited with the design of the three 
rooms. Born August 26, 1731, he was probably in 
his forties when they were erected. Although of no 
great originality, Marlet was considered in his time 
the most capable sculptor of this important pro- 
vincial center, and a considerable proportion of the 
decoration undertaken in Dijon at the end of the 
eighteenth century was under his direction. Marlet 
was a member of the jury of the Ecole des Beaux 
Arts of Dijon from 1777 to 1789; he seems to have left 
the city about 1790; but later returned, becoming 
curator of the museum at Dijon in 1806, a post he 
occupied until his death on November 14, 1810. 

The Hotel Gaulin,? 11 bis rue Saint-Pierre, whence 
came the Morgan Joiseries, is only one of a number of 
private mansions in which Marlet exercised his craft, 
but his work there seems to be particularly rep- 
resentative of his manner. The hotel itself— 
originally constructed, it is said, for a certain Comte 
d’Auvillars—was built in the early part of the eight- 
eenth century. , 

The first room of the series, entered from Gallery F 
1g, is the library (fig. 145), perhaps the richest of the 
three in the matter of decoration. The two book- 
cases, crowned with elaborately carved and gilded 
urns and garlands, are set out from the wall much 
like those of the Bibliotheque du Roi at Versailles, 
practically all the remaining wall surface being taken 
up by doors and windows. The carving on the doors 
and framing members is particularly delightful in 
design and execution although, as in the rest of the 


*Several decorations attributed to Marlet, that of the Hétel Gaulin 
among others, have been published by Leon Deshairs in his folio volume: 
Dijon, Architecture et Decoration aux xvi ™ et xvi ™ Siécles. 


344 





VIEW OF LIBRARY 


FIG. 145. 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


work, no great originality or distinctive quality of 
design is exhibited. The sculptured decorations of 
the four over-doors are emblematic of Architecture, 
Painting, Music, and the Mathematical Sciences. 
The beauty of the exquisitely carved ornament is 
greatly enhanced by the color and quality of the 
old gilding, which successive repaintings® of the 
background have failed to destroy. So delicate is 
this work that in many ways it equals the best 
contemporary ormolu—for which, at a casual glance, 
it might be mistaken. In contrast to this intricate 
detail, the simplicity of the white marble mantel 
comes with somewhat of a shock. It may be 
assumed, in explanation, that the mantel was left 
unfinished since it has obviously been designed to be 
completed with gilt-bronze mounts, which for some 
reason or other were omitted. 

The salon (fig.146), although not quite so charming 
in detail as the library, is quieter, more architectural 
in design. Here again the doors are the finest part 
of the decoration—indeed, excellent examples of the 
Louis XVI style at its best. The original plaster 
lunettes above the four doors are without question 
by the hand of Marlet himself. They represent, 
somewhat in the manner of Sauvage, Wine, Gaming, 
The World as a Plaything of Love and Folly, and 
The Wheel of Fortune. These subjects are hardly 
obvious enough to have been chosen at random and 
most likely indicate that the main function of the 
room was to shelter a quiet game of ombre, pic- 
quet, or whist, with its appropriate accompaniments. 


3Records of these repaintings in 1845 and 1859 have been left by the 
workmen themselves on the upper surface of the small brackets on the 
lower moulding of two of the over-doors. 


346 





VIEW OF SALON 


FIG. 146. 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


We may be sure that this delightful little salon has 
seen more than one gay party with decorum carefully 
left outside! 

Here, as in the library, the marble mantel has not 
been completed with the ormolu mounts for which it 
was designed. Opposite it 1s the customary wall 
mirror, beneath which is a beautiful console-table 
from the Hoentschel Collection. The walls of the 
salon are hung with a modern reproduction of a 
brocade by Philippe de la Salle, the master textile- 
designer of Lyons in the eighteenth century. Two of 
the chairs in this room are notable for their ex- 
quisitely carved decoration. 

The bed-chamber (fig. 140) has suffered more than 
the other rooms at the hands of the renovator, who 
covered the original painted surface with many coats 
of calcimine, although fortunately the gilding has 
escaped. Originally the carved floral ornament 
was polychromed as well as gilded, but this poly- 
chrome decoration must have been eliminated shortly 
after the room was put up, to judge from the con- 
dition of the painting. 

The chief point of interest is, of course, the 
charming enframement for the bed niche, with its 
channeled and gilded colonnettes and richly deco- 
rated lambrequin. This alcove entrance was orig- 
inally flanked by two windows. The two little doors 
on either side of the enframement gave access presum- 
ably to a garde-robe or cabinet behind the bed niche. 
The carved and gilded bed now shown in the niche is of 
the period of the room, but does not come from Dijon. 


4When the woodwork was removed, a drawing showing two schemes 
for the ormolu decoration of the mantel was found sketched on the 
plaster wall behind the mirror. 


348 


GALVERIES F :20-22 


Unlike those in the other two rooms, the mantel in 
the bed-chamber is a complete and very fine example. 
Instead of relying on ormolu, the ornament is carved 
in the stone and gilded. The materials of the wall 
coverings and window curtains, as in the other 
rooms, are modern reproductions of eighteenth- 
century fabrics. 

Although these rooms were made at Dijon, a center 
naturally of lesser importance artistically than the 
capital, whatever slight provincial flavor they have 1s 
not particularly localized. All over France, at this 
time, the decorators were doing much the same sort 
of thing and using the same motives in much the 
same way, following the engraved designs of Lalonde, 
Boucher fi/s, Prieur, and Forty, which enjoyed a wide 
circulation. The rooms may, therefore, be taken as 
representative of the best of their period, for in few 
places was achieved the perfection attained at Ver- 
sailles and Fontainebleau—a perfection possible 
only with unlimited resources and the cooperation 
of a highly trained architect with the decorator. 


349 


CHAPTER IV 


GALLERY: F #28 


THE HUBERT ROBERT PAINTINGS FROM 
BAGATELLE 


The most important decorative paintings in the 
Morgan Collection are undoubtedly the six canvases 
by Hubert Robert (fig. 147) exhibited in Gallery F 23. 
These were painted around 1784 for a, bathroom in 
the Chateau of Bagatelle, built by the architect, 
Bellanger, in a phenomenally short period at the 
order of the Comte d’Artois on a wager with his 
sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette. This little pleasure 
house underwent a variety of alterations in the 
stormy times during and following the Revolution, 
and these Robert paintings were removed sometime 
during this period. At one time in the possession 
of the Empress Josephine, the paintings were pre- 
sented by her to her physician and sold by him to the 
Comte de Flaux. 

Hubert Robert was one of the foremost decorators 
of his time. Having devoted himself, when at Rome, 
to drawing the monuments of its ancient glory, he 
returned to Paris well equipped to satisfy the fashion- 
able craving for sentimentalized classicism. When 
the Revolution came, Robert shared the misfortunes 
of his aristocratic clients, and spent ten months in 


35 





Fic, 147]. , PAINTING 
BY HUBERT ROBERT 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


prison, escaping the guillotine only through a mistake 
of the jailer. 

These six panels seem to have little connection so 
far as their subject is concerned, although they are 
about equally divided between scenes of natural 
grandeur and the picturesque romance of ancient 
buildings. Only one, The Cave, is signed and dated 
‘““H. Robert, 1784””—which would also be the approx- 
imate date of the rest. 

The paintings are characteristic of the artist at his 
best. In the painting of architectural ruins, Robert 
surpasses his contemporary, Panini, both in quality 
of color and in delicacy of handling. The Swing and 
The Bathing Pool show much the same spirit that 
inspired the decorative work of Fragonard. The 
range of colors is limited; with the exception of the 
green of the foliage, the effect of color is secured 
mainly by skilful oppositions of neutralized blue 
and orange tones. 

Such paintings as these were intended to be an 
integral part of a wall treatment and are shown here 
framed in a simple paneling to which are added a 
delicately carved white marble panel of about the 
same date as the paintings, and a wooden over-mantel 
and mirror of a rather earlier type (both from the 
Hoentschel Collection). The four medallions of 
profile heads executed in low relief in plaster on a red 
marble background, each in a charming eighteenth- 
century wooden frame, were probably intended to— 
represent the elements: earth, air, fire, and water. 

Two small cases are devoted to bibelots. The first 
of these contains eighteenth-century scent-bottles of 
Meissen porcelain. These interesting little articles 
are mostly in the form of statuettes, which delight 


She 


GALLERY F 23 


one with their whimsicality of expression and pos- 
ture. The head is ordinarily removable to permit the 
introduction of the scent, and the bottle was carried 
in a handbag, or pocket, or placed upon the dressing- 
table as occasion demanded. In the second case are 
some beautiful snuft-boxes and carnets de bal, with 
other objects of especial interest, notably a needle- 
case in vernis Martin. 


Sho 


CEA PERS 
GALLERY F 24 


In Gallery F 24 the Hoentschel Collection of wood- 
work and decorative paintings is continued. The 
most interesting pieces here are perhaps the large 
mirror-frame and a door panel (fig. 148) rescued from 
the palace of the Tuileries, when the Pavillon de Mar- 
san was burned in 1871. The door with enframing 
trim, occupying the center of the south wall, comes 
from an unknown source, and is a few years ear- 
lier in style than the Tuileries panels. The fine 
quality of the delicately sculptured ornament and 
the perfection of the gilding on these superb examples 
of Louis XVI woodwork equal the best bronze- 
work of the time, and recall in many ways the 
craftsmanship of the famous cise/eur, Gouthieére. 
The door on the south wall is said to have formed 
part, originally, of the same decoration as the over- 
doors of the architects mentioned on page 338. 
To the right of the door is a small carved oak panel, 
intended as a sculptor’s model for an arabesque 
design of a type we have already seen approximated 
by the painter. Above this is a skilfully executed 
sketch for an over-door panel, and a canvas in the 
manner of Boucher in which the amorini so dear to 


354 


% 


> 
¢ 


2h ewes 





LOUIS XVI DOOR PANEL 


FROM THE TUILERIES 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


the eighteenth-century decorator enact an incident 
in the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. Balancing 
this is a decorative still-life, probably used as an 
over-door, painted in the manner of Mme. Vallayer- 
Coster. Between this and a panel carved with an 
emblem of summer is a charming little grisaille 
painting of sporting cupids. Attention is also called 
to the carved and gilded over-door panels, with 
painted medallion inserts. These came from a house 
in the rue Antoine, Paris; the paintings show the 
dress fashionable in the early years of Louis XVI and 
are by an unidentified artist of the period. 

The center of the next wall is occupied by the 
Tuileries mirror, below which is a side-table of about 
the same date but from another source. On the 
table 1s a large ormolu clock with an allegory rep- 
resenting Love and Time. The finely carved 
ornament on the mirror-frame is typical of the late 
neo-classic phase of Louis XVI design. On either 
side of the mirror are various decorative canvases. 
The painted door panel to the left, with a medallion 
of a cupid and dove en camaieu, belongs to the same 
series as two now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 
Paris. In the corners are two plaster torchéres in 
the form of girls carrying cornucopias. 

The panel from the Tuileries (fig. 148) on the north 
wall is half of a double-leaf door. Its decoration 1s 
identical in character with the mirror-frame, and if 
not from the same room, it is at least from the same 
suite. Some of the trim, as may be seen, still bears 
the marks of the fire caused by the communist riots. 
To the right is a delightful painted arabesque at- 
tributed to J. B. Huet; as an example of technique 
this is well worth careful study. The canvas on the 


356 


GALLERY F 24 


left (fig. 138) was either part of a folding screen or a 
model for a tapestry panel. 

On the window wall may be noted a graceful oval 
frame, a three-branched wall appliqué of carved and 
gilded wood, and a frame of six small panels, probably 
sculptors’ models exquisitely carved in the style of 
Salembier. 

Most of the snuff- and comfit-boxes in the large 
floor-case in this gallery were produced around the 
middle years of the eighteenth century. These boxes 
show in their decorative treatment the freedom of 
line and general lightness and flamboyancy of the 
Geteemorerouls. XV. Lhese characteristics are, 
however, in the better examples subjected to the 
restraining influence of a simple geometric form, 
generally the oval, circle, or rectangle, although in a 
few instances the shape as well as the decorative 
treatment is ungeometric. There is also evident an 
extraordinary gayness and freshness of color which 
is usually lacking in the later, Louis XVI boxes. 
In some, pearl matrix is used either as a ground or as 
inlay; miniature genre scenes (fig. 144) and flower 
paintings adorn others, and in several instances Chi- 
nese motives testify to the exotic taste of the period. 
A very fine éxample is decorated in vernis Martin 
with a pastoral scene. Especially delicate and 
feminine is a little snuff-box decorated with pink and 
gray enamel and a medallion of Maria Anna of 
Austria in discuit de Sévres. 


Shy 


CHAPTER VI 
GALLERY fagoe 


Another panel of the Tuileries set, mentioned in 
the preceding chapter, occupies the central posi- 
tion on the wall to the right as the visitor enters 
Gallery F 25. With the exception of part of the 
border moulding, it is in excellent preservation, 
and well exemplifies the exquisite workmanship 
found up to the very end of the Louis XVI period. 
The two white and gold panels shown on the same 
wall are of about the same date; the detail, which is 
reminiscent of Salembier’s designs, is delicately han- 
dled, but the composition as a whole is weak. 

The two carved wood over-doors belong to the 
‘architect’ series, previously mentioned in connec- 
tion with Gallery 19. Typical of the decorative paint- 
ing attributed to Mme. Vallayer-Coster are two 
canvases showing an ormolu-mounted vase sur- 
rounded by musical attributes. Below one of these 
in a finely carved frame is a painting of a road scene 
attributed to Casanova, who furnished many car- 
toons of similar subjects to the Beauvais factory. 
The vogue for paintings skilfully imitating the ap- 
pearance of a bas-relief was especially cultivated by 
the painter, Piat-Joseph Sauvage, to whom 1s attrib. 
uted the little grisaille of an autumnal sacrifice shown 


358 


‘4 


GALLERY F 25 


below. To him also is ascribed the small canvas 
imitating a bronze plaque. The taste of the time is 
delightfully expressed in these paintings of children 
engaged in occupations symbolic of the seasons or 
in classical rites. 

Many examples of this genre are on the adjoining 
wall. Two of the panels, representing the Triumph 
of Bacchus, are versions of an identical design, 
carried out in different sizes. In the center of these 
small canvases is a damaged fragment of a wood 
panel, carved in unusually high relief. The typical 
Louis XVI console-table below exemplifies in the use 
of the lion’s paw the revival at this time of many 
motives characteristic of the style of Louis XIV. 
On either side of the console are four trophy models, 
presumably emblematic of outdoor and indoor music 
and of the occupations of fishing and farming. 

The shop-front (fig. 149) forming the north wall 
was originally part of the facade of No. 3 Quai 
Bourbon, Paris. Its design represents the phase 
transitional between the styles of Louis XV and 
Louis XVI found in many of the engraved designs of 
Boucher fi/s. The form of the transom over the 
entrance retains the curvilinear quality of the ear- 
lier period and much of the detail is of the pseudo- 
classic type popular in the first half of the century. 
The faience exhibited in the windows is mostly 
from the manufactories of Sceaux and Marseilles and 
shows the imitation of Strasbourg patterns. These 
ceramic exhibits are part of the Le Breton Collection 
shown in Gallery 17. On the window wall are a 
few decorative panels of the period, and two globes, 
terrestrial and celestial, of early nineteenth-century 
English make. 


ame, 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


Battersea enamel is well represented in the large 
floor-case. The collection consists of various types 
of étuis; vanity-boxes, scent-bottles, snuff-boxes, and 
comfit-boxes. The name étui, which was originally 
given to any sort of case intended to enclose and 
protect any object from a large clock to a needle, 
was later confined almost wholly to small objects 
of the bibelot type. If enclosing) bupwamesaie © 
object, the shape of the étui usually conformed to 
that of the object, otherwise it could be more or less 
fanciful, as in the instance of vanity-boxes, néces- 
saires, snuff- and comfit-boxes. The vanity-box, 
containing various articles essential to needlework 
and to the toilet, was during the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries much used by ladies and was 
worn attached to the belt. The ground colors most 
popular in Battersea enamels are rose, blue, green, 
and white, and the miniature seascapes, landscapes, 
genre and flower paintings that adorn them are 
framed for the most part in delicate gilt scrolls in 
relief. In the same case with these enamels are 
several exquisitely painted Sevres plaques and a fine 
example of the zavette (shuttle) which was used by 
ladies in making tatting. 

In Gallery F 25 are also two small cases of French 
bibelots. In the first are more carnets de bal of the 
late eighteenth century, several with miniature por- 
traits and two with seascapes in the manner of 
Joseph Vernet. Among the objects in the second 
case are two differing from any shown in the pre- 
ceding cases; these are nécessaires in the form of 
eges. The nécessaire, as the word itself suggests, 
was any étul containing articles for the toilet, such 
as scissors, needles, toothpicks, and ear-scoops. 

360 



































XVI SHOP-FRONT 


LOUIS 


149. 


FIG. 





— “ 6 Rr 
ma vx : ¥ j aha 
: 4 , ve ¥ on y 
y ‘ ,» ae 
4 q . : ; 
>t 7 
ol ‘ » - 

a = ‘ : A 





GALLERY F 26 


The collection of watches! is exhibited in four 
cases in Gallery F 26. It is composed for the most 
part of two large private collections, that of Carl 
Marfels, one of the foremost students of horology in 
Europe, and that of the late F. G. Hilton Price, an 
enthusiastic amateur. The collection gives the stu- 
dent a complete illustration of the progress of horo- 
logical art in examples of the finest quality, many 
of which have the interest of historical associations. 

The industry of watchmaking was begun early 
in the sixteenth century. The portable timepiece 
was, of course, a normal development from the small 
table-clock. Peter Henlein (Hele), a locksmith of 
Nuremberg, invented a clock with a mainspring 
which permitted its use in traveling. This must 
have been about the year 1510, for in the Appendix 
of the Cosmographia Pomponii Melae, published at 
Nuremberg in 1511, there is a Latin passage which 
translated reads: “Every day now they invent 
more subtle things; Peter Hele executes watches 
made of iron with many wheels that, however they 
are worn, either in the stomacher or in the purse, will 
show and strike the hour during forty hours.” 

All these early watches were entirely of iron or steel 


1The numbers throughout this chapter refer to the J. Pierpont Morgan 
Catalogue of Watches, by G. C. Williamson. 


365 


THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


(a little later of brass). One of them, a gilt metal 
watch in a drum-shaped case, and having a mechanism 
of iron, dating from about 1550, is No. 103 (Case D) 
and comes from Nuremberg (fig. 150). The type 
of watch known as the Ezuhr or Nuremberg egg 
(so called from its shape) which is first mentioned in 
1600, is represented by No. 102, dating from about 
1620 (Case B). 

These primitive watches were necessarily 1in- 
accurate until, in 1525, an 
invention for equalizing the 
force of the pull on the 
main spring, known as the 
fuzee, and due to Jacob 
Zech definitely overcame 
this difficulty. The fuzee 
is still in use today. 

Watchmaking was intro- 

FIG. 150. TABLE WATCH duced into Geneva, a city 

NUREMBERG, ABOUT 1550 where the industry is still 

famous, by Charles Cusin 
in 1585. The watch- and clock-makers of Paris were 
granted a charter as early as 1544 by Francis I, and 
from that time on formed a close guild. Though 
the collection contains no works of the original 
members of the Paris guild, it contains a specimen 
by David Ramsay (fig. 151) (No 129, Case A), the 
first master of the English watch- and clock-makers 
who formed themselves into a company in 1631 
under a charter granted by Charles I. The work of 
five of Ramsay’s contemporaries is also to be found 
in the collection (Nos. 132-7, 140-1, Case A), as well 
as several British watches predating the formation of 
the guild. 





366 


GALLERY F 26 


English watchmakers are responsible for several 
technical improvements. Thus Daniel Quare, watch- 
maker to George I (Nos. 164-6, Case A), invented 
the repeater action in 1676, and, more important 
from the lay point of view, the minute hand in 1691. 
George Graham (1695-1750), who 
invented the mercurial pendulum 
ancities dead beat’ escapement, 
is represented by the dial of watch 
Moeoyeand john Bllicott, in- 
ventor of the compensation lever 
pendulum, by Nos. 187-8 (Case A). 

German, Austrian, Dutch, Flem- 
ish, Swiss, Italian, and Russian 
watches are also to be found in 
this collection. 

Though interesting for technical 
reasons to the student of watch- 
making, the collection is also of 
interest to the general visitor for 
historical reasons in a wider sense, 
as well as for the beauty of the 
work on the cases. For instance, ric. 151. waTcH 
the watch by Ramsay (Case A) BY DAVID RAMSAY 
fj wotapletonthe Limoges painted «°h°?*AieD NUNS 

5 LIMOGES ENAMEL 
enamel decoration of the case 
(fig. 151), possibly by Joseph Raymond. Limoges 
enameled cases of this period are exeeedingly rare. 

The later style of enameling (fig. 153) is very well 
represented. No. 48 (Case B), for instance, 1s 
probably by the celebrated Robert Vauquer of the 
school of Blois. The scenes depicted are from the 
story of Cleopatra, and are rendered in the charac- 
teristic seventeenth-century manner. This piece 


367 





THE PIERPONT MORGAN WING 


may stand as typical of all such work. The Huaud 
dynasty of Poitiers goldsmiths is represented by no 
less than seven pieces, though these are of unequal 
merit. The watches with engraved  silverwork 
(Nos. 102, 106, Case B) are aesthetically among the 
most pleasing in the collec- 
tion. 

To protect the enamel and 
other decorations on watches, 
outside cases came into use 
about 1640. These were 
made of shagreen (No. 177, 
Case A), tortoise shell (Nos. 
188, 205) One ae eae 
leather pigué (No. 164, Case 
A), et cetera: Many exam- 
ples of these are to be found 

ae e in this collection, together 
iets ee with cases of gold and silver 
repoussé (No. 175, Case A), 

which appeared first about 1650. 

Among the watches of particular interest from as- 
sociation or other reasons are the following: 

No. 55, Case B. Made for the Regent, Philip 
of Orléans. 

No. 64, Case B. Made by D. Vauchez of Paris 
in 1783 (fig. 152); one of twelve in commem- 
oration of the ascent of the first Montgolfier 
balloon. (Of these twelve only the Morgan 
watch and one other are known to be in exis- 
tence today.) 

No. 70, Case B. Gold repeater and musical 
watch, presented by Napoleon to Murat 
after the battle of Marengo (1800). 

368 





GALLERY F 26 


Pome wmenscb, Case enameled by Chris- 
tophe Morliére, one of the most noted enamel- 
ers of the school of Blois, c. 1650 (fig. 153). 

No. 81, Case D. Watch set in a large metal 
clasp-knife, French, eighteenth century. 
Maker: | Boulay, c. 1780. 

No. 98, Case B. Case en- 
ameled by Jean Pierre 
Huaud with a portrait 
of the Great Elector. 

iNomigige ase, Case 
of a watch presented 
by King James I to 
the first Lord Brooke, 
EaLO20, 

DremiggecG@ase A. An 
‘East’? watch, one of 
a type often given asa 





FIG. 14%. ENAMELED 
; ; WATCH-CASE 
prize in the tennis BY MORLIERE 


tournament by King 


Charles II. 


No. 143, Case A. Presented to a duke of Bavaria, 
probably the famous Prince Rupert, on the 
occasion of his creation as a Knight of the 
Garter in 1663. 

No. 228, Case B. Watch in the shape of a book, 
by Diet Maye of Basle, c. 1570. 

No. 229, Case B. Watch in the form of a tulip, 
by Sermand of Geneva, recalling the tulipo- 
mania of the seventeenth century. 

No. 244, Case A. Watch carried by Sir Walter 

Scott. 


369 





said 


INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 


This index includes personal names only. For geographical and race 


names and for types of art (as Gothic), see General Index. 
of saints, see under Saints in the General Index. 


see General Index. 


A 


ACELLINO DI MELIADUCE SALVAGO, 
158 

ADAM, ROBERT, 268, 328, 330 

ALBERT OF AustTRrIA, Cardinal, 205 

ALBERTI, 170 

ALCUIN, 24 

ALDEGREVER, HEINRICH, 215 

ALEXANDER VI, Pope, 168 

ALEXANDER VII, Pope, arms, 148 

ALGARDI, ALESSANDRO, 269 

ANGELICO, FRA, 181 

ANGUIER, MICHEL, 228 

ANNE OF AUSTRIA, 234 

ARKWRIGHT, SIR RICHARD, 334 

ARTOIS, COMTE D’, 338, 340, 350 

AUDRAN, GERARD, 265 

AUMONT, Duc D’, 340 

AUVILLARS, COMTE D’, 344 


B 


BacaA-FLor, CARLOS, 280-281 

Bacon, ROGER, 72 

BALASSER, ANDREAS, arms, 248 

BALLIN, CLAUDE, 234 

BARTHELEMY, ANTOINE, 288 

BASIL 1, 20, 22 

BAUDOUIN, PIERRE ANTOINE, 319 

BAVARIA, DUKE OF, 369 

BEHAM, Hans SEBALD, 215 

BELLANGER, 324, 327, 338, 350 

BELLINI, GIOVANNI, 166, 183, 184 

BENDEL, CASPAR, 212 

BENEDICT, Dom JOHN, 128 

BENEMAN, G., 324 

BERAIN, JEAN, 232, 234, 302; 
style of, 242, 262, 265, 301, 302, 
304 

BERNARDI, GIOVANNI, see Castel 
Bolognese, Giovanni Bernardi 
da 


For names 
For names of collectors, 


BERNINI, LORENZO, 179, 230, 236 

BERRI, DUKE OF, 85 

BERRI, JEAN, DUKE OF, 129 

BERRUGUETE, ALONSO, 159, 180 

BEUTMULLER, the Elder, 211 il. 

BIARD, PIERRE, 228 

BIGONNET, 326 

BLONDEL, FRANGOIS, 230 

BoBILLET, ETIENNE, 129 

BOccAcclo, 73 

BOFFRAND, GERMAIN, 261 

Bois-NORMAND, THIREL DE, 303- 
304 

BOIZOT, 275, 324,325 

BOLOGNA, GIOVANNI, 176, 179, 206 

BONTEMPS, PIERRE, 180 

BorciA, GIOVANNI, Cardinal, 204 

BORMAN, JAN, 155 

BORNE, CLAUDE, 309 

Bosse, ABRAHAM, 224 

BossuET, JACQUES BENIGNE, 226 


- BOTTICELLI, 181-182 


BOUCHARDON, EDME, 263 

BOUCHER, FRANCOIS, 262, 266, 
204, 296, 319, 327; manner of, 
354 

BOUCHER, fils, 321, 349, 359 

BouLay, 369 

BouLEE, 318 

BouLLe, ANDRE CHARLES, 
264; influence, 270 

BOURDICHON, JEHAN, 187 

BouscH, VALENTIN, 195 

BRAMANTE, 166, 171 

BREGNO, ANDREA, 158, 177 il. 

Briosco, ANTONIO, 188 

BRISEUX, CHARLES ETIENNE, 290 

Brooke, Lorn, 369 

BROSSE, SALOMON DE, 227 

BRUNELLESCHI, FILIPPO, 166, 170 

BULLANT, JEAN, 173 

BuRGUNDY, DUKE oF, 85 


232, 


ye 


INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 


© 


CAFFIERI, JACQUES, 275, 276 

CAFFIERI, PHILIPPE, 232, 264, 324 

CAMPIN, ROBERT, 115 

CANALETTO, ANTONIO, 267 

CANDIDO, see Witte, Pieter de 

CANOovA, ANTONIO, 332 

Carraccl, The, 184 

CARAVAGGIO, 186 

CARLIN, 324, 325 

CASANOVA, FRANCESCO GUISEPPE, 
358 

CASTAGNO, ANDREA, I81 

CASTEL BOLOGNESE, GIOVANNI 
BERNARDI DA, 193 il., 196 

CATHERINE II of Russia, 342 

CAvuvET, GILLES PAUL, 325, 327 

CAVALLINI, PIETRO, 84 

CAYLuS, COMTE DE, 314 

CELLINI, BENVENUTO, 166, 167 il., 
190, 191, 205 

CERVANTES, 225 

CHAMPAGNE, PHILIPPE DE, 228 

CHAPELLE, PIERRE, 309 

CHARDIN, JEAN BAPTISTE SIMEON, 
263 

CHARLEMAGNE, 24 

CHARLES I, King of Sabie 366 

CHARLES II, King of England, 
369 

CHARLES V, King of France, 85, 
120,.159; 107, 100 16221 

CHARLES VI, King of France, 129 

CHARLES VII, King of France, 130, 
131 

CHARLES VIII, 
168; 172 

CHAUCER, 74 

CHINARD, JOSEPH, 332 

CHIPPENDALE, THOMAS, 268, 328 

CuHoaTe, JosePH H., xvii 

CHRISTIAN II oF SAXONY, 204 

CHRISTINA, Queen of Spain, 198 

CIPRIANI, 328 

CLerc, MEYERE DE, 151 

CLERC, NICOLAS DE, 151 

CLODION, 319, 325, 342 

CLOUET, FRANCOIS, 88 

CocHIN, CHARLES NICOLAS, 315 

COLBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE, 223-224, 
220, 252, 254, 330 

Cotes, Mrs. ELIZABETH U., 160 

CoLomBE, MICHEL, 83, 134 

COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER, XVill 


King of France, 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, 15, 16, 
19 

CorRREGGIO, 166, 184 

Cosimo, PIERO DI, 182 

Cotte, ROBERT DE, 231, 
284 

Coustou, GUILLAUME, 232 

Coustou, NICHOLAS, 232, 263 

CoyPEL, 265 

CoyseEvox, ANTOINE, 23 1-232 

CRESSENT, CHARLES, 264, 276, 324 

Croce, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, 197 

CROME, JOHN, 329 

Cucci, DOMENICO, 232 

CusIN, CHARLES, 366 


260, 2°72: 


D 


DALMACIO DE Mur, Don, 147 

DAUER, HANS, 200 

Davip, JAcQuEs Louis, 320, 327, 
330, 332 

DELAFOSSE, 
325 

DE LA ROTTHIERE, 340 

DE LA SALLE, PHILIPPE, 326, 348 

DELORME, PHILIBERT, 173 

DeEscARTES, RENE, 225 

DESHAIRS, LEON, 344 (note) 

DESMALTER, JACOB, 333 

DE Wit, JAKOB, 295, 297 

DIANE DE PoITIERsS, 160 

DipEROT, DENIS, 313 

DONATELLO, 166, 176, 178 

Droualis, FRANCOIS HUBERT, 261 

DuBarry, MME., 317 

DuBols, 324 

Duccio pi BUONINSEGNA, 84 

DUCERCEAU, 173; Style of, 210 

DUrer, ALBRECHT, 86, 187, 188, 
191, 200, 206 


CHARLES, 2099, 321, 


E 


EISEN, CHARLES, 278 

ELLICOTT, JOHN, 367 

EMBRIACHI, BALDASSARE DEGLI, 
Ol 1i2,2000 

EMBRIACHI FAMILY, 91, 189 

EuGENE, Prince of Savoy, 252 


F 


FALCONET, ETIENNE 
263-264, 278, 325 


MAuRICE, 


oye 


INDEX OF PROPER 


FELic1A, Queen of Aragon and 
Navarre, 52 

FERDINAND II, Emperor of Holy 
Roman Empire, 245 

FERDINAND THE GREAT, 51 

FERDINAND V, King of Aragon, 
68, 115, 166, 167 

FILARETE, 204 

FINIGUERRA, Maso, 124 

FLAUX, COMTE DE, 350 

FLAXMAN, JOHN, 329, 342 

FLEURY, CARDINAL, 256 

FLOTNER, PETER, 198, 214 

FONTAINE, PIERRE FRANCOIS L., 
327,330, 333 

FORESTIER, 324 

FORMENT, DAMIAN, 180 

Forty, 326, 349 

FOUQUET, JEAN, 88, 130, 131, 187 

FouguET, NICOLAS, 230 

FRAGONARD, JEAN Honoré, 262, 
319, 340, 341 

FRANCESCHI, PIERO DEI, 182 

Francis I, King of France, 172, 
366 

FREDERICK II, Emperor, Holy 
Roman Empire, 68 

FREDERICK I] oF LUXEMBURG, 307 

FREDERICK THE GREAT, 256, 266 

FRIDERIKUS OF COLOGNE, 32 il., 60 

FROHLICH, JACOB, 214 


G 


GABRIEL, JACQUES ANGE, 260, 317 

GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS, 267, 329 

GALILEO, 72 

GASTON OF ORLEANS, 228 

GERMAIN, FRANGOIS THOMAS, 325 

GERMAIN, THOMAS, 265 

GHIBERTI, LORENZO, 126, 176 

GHIRLANDAIO, 182 

GILLOT, CLAUDE, 262 

GIORGIONE, 106, 184 

Giotto, 84-85, 94 

GIOVANNI, BENVENUTO DI, XVIIl 

GIRARDON, FRANGOIS, 232, 307 

GODEFROID DE CLAIRE, 58 

GONTAUT, ARMAND DE, 132, 135 il., 
136 

GONTAUT, PONS DE, 132, 135 il., 136 

Goujon, JEAN, 173, 180 

GOUTHIERE, 275, 270, 324, 354 

GRAHAM, GEORGE, 367 

Greco, EL, 186 


NAMES 


GRENIER, PASQUIER, 115 
GREUZE, JEAN BAPTISTE, 319 
GUARDI, FRANCESCO, 267 
GUEIDAN FAMILY, 273 
GUIDISALVI, SANCCIA, 62 
GUILLIBAUD, JEAN, 307 


H 


Hats, FRANS, 237 

HaAvarpb, HENRI, 226 

HELE (HENLEIN), PETER, 365 

Henri IV, King of France, 222~ 
223, 225, 240, 309, 327 

HEPPLEWHITE, GEORGE, 328 

HERE, 260 

HERTFORD, MARQUIS OF, 338 

HOENTSCHEL, GEORGES, XViil 

HOGARTH, 267 

Hosein, Hans, the Elder, 191 

Hosein, Hans, the Younger, 86- 
88, 187 

HOLTZzscHULER, HIERONYMUS, 198 

Hoppner, JOHN, 329 

Houpon, JEAN ANTOINE, 263, 318- 
319, 332, 336 

Huaup, JEAN PIERRE, 368, 369 

Huet, CHRISTOPHE, 262, 263 il., 289 

Huet, JEAN BAPTISTE, 356 

HustTIN, JACQUES, 304 


I 


INGRES, JEAN AUGUSTE DomiI- 
NIQUE, 332 

INNOCENT IV, Pope, 56 

ISABELLA, Queen of Castile, 1066, 
107 

IsABEY, EUGENE Louris GABRIEL, 


342 
J 


JACOPONE DA Topt, 94 

James I, King of England, 369 

JAMNITZER, HANS, 213 il., 214 

JANS, JAN, 232 

JAYME II, Don, 110 

JEAN SANS PEvR, 129 

JEANNE DE BOURBON, 129 

JOHN OF SALISBURY, 103 

JONES, INIGO, 267 

JOSEPHINE, Empress, 112, 350 

Juxius II, Pope, 168, 171 

JUSTINIAN THE GREAT, Emperor, 
15, 19-20, 21 


3f3 


INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 


K 


KAUFFMANN, ANGELICA, 328 

KELS VON KAUFBEUREN, Hans, 
1908 

KENT, WILLIAM, 267, 268 

KKOSSMANN, EBERWEIN, 215 

KRAFFT, ADAM, 144 


a 


LA FONTAINE, JEAN DE, 284 

LA JOUE, JACQUES, 288 

LALONDE, 300, 325, 326, 349 

LAMOUR, JEAN, 265 

La Tour, MAuRICE QUENTIN DE, 
261 

LARGILLIERE, NICOLAS, 231, 261 

LAURANA, FRANGESCO, 159 

Law, JOHN, 254-255 

LAWRENCE, THOMAS, 329 

LE LorRAIN, 232 

LE RICHE, 340 

LEBRUN, CHARLES, 229-230, 251, 
258, 330 

LEFEVRE, JEAN, 232 

LEMOINE, FRANGOIS, 261, 289, 295 

LEMOYNE, J. B., 263 

Leo X, Pope, 168, 171 

LEONARDO, 166, 183, 191 

LEONI, LEONE, 159, 169 il., 180, 
203 

LEONI, PoMPEo, 180 

LEOPARDI, ALESSANDRO, 179, 209 

LEPAUTRE, JEAN, 232, 234 

LEPRINCE, J. B., 340 

LEscoT, PIERRE, 173 

LESUEUR, EUSTACHE, 228 

LEVASSEUR, 308 

Lippi, FILIPPINO, 182 

LomBARDI, The, 179 

LOMBARDO, ANTONIO, 201 

LORRAINE, CLAUDE, 228 

Louris XI, King of France, 166 

Louis XII, King of France, 172 

Louis XIV, King of France, 220, 
223, 224, 5226, 0230, 9241 sade. 
251, 252, 258, 261, 307 

Louis XV, King of France, 256, 
206, 317 

Louis XVI, King of France, 266, 
278, 317, 334, 342 

Lucy, Wary DE, Prior of Flavigny, 
195 

LuKE, ABBOT, 63 


M 


MaBusE, JAN GOSSAERT VAN, 186 

MAINTENON, MME. DE, 252 

MANSART, FRANGOIS, 228 

MANSART, JULES HARDOUIN, 231, 
258, 260 

MANTEGNA, ANDREA, 182, 188 

MARFELS, CARL, 365 

Marta ANNA OF AUSTRIA, 357 

Maria CATHERINE, Duchess, 245 

MariA DI PLANO, 124 

MariA THERESA OF AUSTRIA, 256 

Marie ANTOINETTE, 278, 303, 340, 
341, 350 

MariE DE LAMBALLE, Princess, 
342 

Marie DE MEpicis, 229 

Marie Louise, Empress, 342 

MariGny, MARQUIS DE, 315 

MARLBOROUGH, DUKE OF, 252 

MARLET, JEROME, 343-349 

Marot, DANIEL, 232, 234 

MarTEL-ANGE, ETIENNE, 228 

MarTINI, SIMONE, 85 

Mary, QUEEN OF SCOTS, 204 

Masaccio, 181 

Massys, QUENTIN, 86 

MAXIMILIAN, Emperor, Holy Ro- 
man Empire, 167 

Maye, DIET, 369 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 223, 225, 229 

Mepicl, CosiMo DE, 126-127 

Mepic!, FRANCESCO I, DE’, 210 

MEbpicis, MARIE DE, 229 

MEISSONIER, JUST AURELE, 264, 
292, 208, 309 

MeEMLING, Hans, 86 

MEssINA, ANTONELLO DA, 182-183 

MICHEL, CLAUDE, see Clodion 

MICHELANGELO, 166, 172, 176, 179, 
182, 183, 184, 236 

MIGNARD, PIERRE, 231 

MOoDERNO, 204 

Monnoy er, J. B., 288, 299 

MONTESQUIEU, BARON DE LA 
BREDE ET DE, 257, 313 

MoNTGOLFIER, JACQUES ETIENNE. 
368 

MOoNVAERNI, 126 

MorGAn, J. PIERPONT, XVili, xix 

MorGan, J. PIERPONT, JR., Xix, 
290, 343 

Mor tiERE, CHRISTOPHE, 369 il. 

MOSSELMAN, PAUL DE, 129 


374 


INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 


Mota, GUILLERMO DE LA, 147 
Mozart, ANTON, 247 
MULLER, ANDREAS, 208 
Murat, JOACHIM, Prince, 368 
MuRILLO, 236 


N 


NANTEUIL, ROBERT, 231 
NAPOLEON, 330-331, 342, 368 
NatTorr_, C. J., 289 

NaTTIER, JEAN MARIE, 261 
NiIcoLa D’APULIA, 82 

NIKOLAUS OF LEYDEN, 144 il., 145 


O 


ODIOT, 333 

OEBEN, J. F., 264 

OLERYS, 306 

OPPENORD, 264 

ORLEANS, PHILIPPE, Duc D’, 254, 
256, 368 

OtHo II, Emperor, Holy Roman 
Empire, 26 

OupRy, 265, 282, 288; style of, 
285, 289 


ie 


Pajou, 263 

PALISSY, BERNARD, 193 

PALLADIO, ANDREA, 172 

PANINI, 352 

Pau V, Pope, 220 

PERCIER, CHARLES, 327, 330, 333 

PERGOLESI, 328 

PERRAULT, CLAUDE, 230 

PERRIER, GUILLAUME DE, 159 

PERRIN, THE VEUVE, 308 

PERRONEAU, 261 

PERUGINO, 182 

PETRARCH, 73 

Puixip I, King of Castile, 167 

PHILIP, THE Goop, Duke of Bur- 
gundy, 115, 131 

PHILIPPE LE Harpi, 83 

PIGALLE, JEAN BAPTISTE, 263-264 

PILLEMENT, 203, 322 

PILON, GERMAIN, 180 

PINEAU, NICOLAS, 294 

PISANO, GIOVANNI, 82 

Pisano, NicoLo, 82 


POLLAIUOLO, ANTONIO, 178, 181, 


187 
Pompapour, MME. DE, 262, 290, 
303, 314-15 


PoTERAT, Louis, arms, 302 il. 
PoTERATS, The, 234 

Poussin, NICOLAS, 228 
PRIEUR, BARTHELEMY, 228, 349 
PRUDHON, PIERRE PAUL, 332 
PUGET, PIERRE, 232 


Q 


QuARE, DANIEL, 367 
QUERCIA, JACOPO DELLA, 178 


R 


RaaB, Lupwic, of Ulm, 198 
RAEBURN, SIR HENRY, 329 
RAIMONDI, MARCANTONIO, 188 
RAMBOUILLET, MARQUISE DE, 225 
Ramsay, Davip, 366, 367 il. 
RANSON, 322, 327, 337 
RAPHAEL, Xix, 183, 184, 185 il., 
104 
REMBRANDT, 237 
REYMOND, JOSEPH, 367 
REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA, 267, 329 
RIBERA, JUSEPE DE, 186 
Riccio, IL, see Briosco, Antonio 
RicHELIEU, DUC DE, 223, 220, 
306 
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, TILMAN, 144 
RIESENER, J. H., 279, 324 
Ricaub, HYACINTHE, 231, 261 
RITTER, WOLFF CHRISTOFF, 245 
RossBiA, ANDREA DELLA, 206 
RosBIA, GIOVANNI DELLA, 158, 
206 
RossBiA, LUCA DELLA, 176, 178 
RoBerT, HUBERT, xXx, 278, 320, 
350-352, 351 il. 
ROCHEFOUCAULD, DUC DE LA, 225 
ROMANO, PIETRO PAULO, 208 
RoME, KING OF, 342 
RoMNEY, GEORGE, 329 
ROSSELLINO, ANTONIO, 159, 160 
RoussEAu, the brothers, 322, 340 
Rousseau, the Elder, 264 
ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES, 313, 
336 
ROUSSEAU, PIERRE, 318 
ROVEZZANO, BENEDETTO DA, 180 


375 


INDEX OF PROPER 


RuBENS, PETER PAUL, 236-237 
Rupert, Prince of Bavaria, 369 


S 


St. EVREMOND, 225 

ST. GERMAIN, GAULT DE, 341 

ST. Simon, Duc DE, 257 

SALEMBIER, 279, 322, 338 

SAMBIN, 210 

SANCHA, Queen, wife of Ferdi- 
nand |, 51 

SANCHO IV, the Great, King of 
Navarre, 51 

SANCHO RAMIREZ, King of Aragon 
and Navarre, 52 

SAN MICHAELI, 171 

SANSOVINO, ANDREA, 171 

SARACHI BROTHERS, 197 

SARRAZIN, JACQUES, 228 

SAUNIER, CLAUDE CHARLES, 324 

SAUVAGE, PIAT-JOSEPH, 341, 346, 
358 

SCHNEEWEISS, URBAN, 212 

SCHONGAUER, MartTIN, 86, 
206 

ScoTT, Sir WALTER, 369 

SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO, XVill 

SERMAND, of Geneva, 369 

SEVIGNE, MME. DE, 225 

SFORZA, FRANCESCO, 161 

SHERATON, THOMAS, 328, 334 

SICARDI, Louis, 327 il., 341 il., 342 

SIGNORELLI, Luca, 182 

SLUTER, CLAUS, 83 il., 136, 156 

SOUFFLOT, JACQUES GERMAIN, 315, 
317, 318 

STANISLAS, King of Poland, 260 

Stoss, VEIT, 144 

SuGER, Abbot of St. Denis, 77 

SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE, 
Duc DE, 222-23 

SYRLIN, JORG, the Elder, 145 

SYRLIN, JORG, the Younger, 145 


187, 


ils 


TACITUS, 4-5 

TAMAGNINI, 158 

TEDESCO, PIERO DI GIOVANNI, 150 

TEMPESTA, 309 

THEOPHANO, wife of Otho II of 
Germany, 26 

THOMIRE/ 275; 278; 280; 324;.333 


NAMES 


TIEPOLO, 267, 296, 297 
TINTORETTO, 166, 184 
TITIAN, 166, 184 

Toro, 302 

TORRIGIANO, PIETRO, 180 
TOURNAI, MARQUIS DE, 304 
Troy, J. R. DE, 299 

TuBy, JEAN BAPTISTE, 232 


U 


UccELLO, i81 


Vv 


VALLAYER-COSTER, MMeE., 
319 il.; style of, 356, 358 

VALLFOGONA, PERE JOHAN DE, 
147 

VAN BLARENBERGHE, Louis Nic- 
OLAS, 342 

VAN DER MEULEN, 
FRANGOIS, 232 

VAN DER STRECKEN, GERARD, 160 

VAN DER WEYDEN, R., xx, 86, 87 
il. 

VAN Dyck, SIR ANTHONY, 236 

Van Eyck, HuBert, 86 

Van Eyck, JAN, 86, 141 (note 2) 

VAN LATTEM, HENRIC, 151 

VAN LEEFDAEL, JAN, 160 

VAN Loo, 261 

VAN ORLEY, 186 

VAN VIANEN, ADAM, 197 il., 248 

VANBRUGH, SIR JOHN, 267 

VaucHEzZ, D., 368 il. 

VAUQUER, ROBERT, 367 

VELASQUEZ, 236 

VENEZIANO, DOMENICO, 181 

VERBERCKT, JACQUES, 264, 295 

VERMEER OF DELFT, 237 

VERNET, JOSEPH, 360 

VERONESE, PAOLO, 184 

VERROCCHIO, ANDREA DEL, 
201 

VIGNOLA, 228 

VINCENT, 327 

VINCENT DE BEAUVAIS, 93 

Vinci, LEONARDO DA, 166, 183, 191 

VOLTAIRE, 313, 336 

VORAGINE, JACOBUS DE, 94 

VOUET, SIMON, 228, 229 

Vries, ADRIAEN DE, 180 

VRIESE, JEAN VREDEMAN DE, 198 


397; 


ANTOINE 


178, 


376 


INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 


W WINCKELMANN, JOHANN JOACHIM, 
I 
WALLBAUM, MATHEUS, 246 Ores PIETER DE, 180 
WATTEAU, ANTOINE, 262, 289 WREN, CHRISTOPHER, 237, 207 
WeEpGwoop, THOMAS, 329 
WEISWEILER, 324, 327 7 
WEsT, BENJAMIN, 329 
WILLIAM OF ORANGE, 222, 252 ZECH, JACOB, 366 
WILLIAMSON, G. C. 365 (note) ZURBARAN, FRANCISCO, 186 


Sie 





w 


GENERAL INDEX 


A 


Abiud, Prophet, 
116 ; 

Abydos, Bas-reliefs from, xvill 

Adam and Eve, ivory casket, 47; 
tapestry, 114, 115 il. 

Adoration of the Magi, marble re- 
lief, 200-201; niello plaque on 
pax, 204; tapestry, 153 

Albanian Treasure, 35-36 

Albigensian Crusade, 68 

Alexander and Darius, on metal 
basin, 246 

Altars, portable, enamel plaques 
from, 60; ivory plaques from, 
48-49 

Altarpieces, alabaster, style of 
Vallfogona, 147-149 il.; ivory, 
by Baldassare degli Embriachi, 
119; paintings, by Benvenuto 
di Giovanni, xviii; by Raphael, 
Rix, 1650, 13156; by van. der 
Weyden, xx, 86, 87 il.; wood, 
143, 150, 155 

Amber, xx; cup, 197 

Ambergris pendant, 203 

Anglo-Saxon art, influence of, 25 

Annunciation, The, painting by 
van der Weyden, xx, 86, 87 il. 

Antioch, 16, 20, 38 

Antiquities, see Assyrian anti- 
quities; Classical antiquities; 
Gallo-Roman antiquities; Ger- 
manic antiquities; Merovingian 
antiquities 

Antony and Cleopatra, tapestries, 
100 

Antwerp School, see Sculpture 

Apostles, enamel plaque, 126; ivory 
box, 50, ciborium, 43, 45 il.; 
stone relief, 156; wood-carvings, 
142, 143 il., 150 

Apt faience, see Faience 

Arabesques, style of Huet, 356; 
attributed to Le Riche, 340 


stained _ glass, 


ay 


Architectural sculpture, see Sculp- 
ture, Architectural; Woodwork, 
Architectural 
Architecture 
Early Christian and Byzantine 
periods, basilican churches, 
&, 16, 17; domed churches, 
21, 22; Mohammedan char- 
acteristics, 26 
Romanesque period, regional 
styles, 28, 29; church archi- 
tecture, 29, 30; use of sculp. 
ture, 29, 30 
Gothic period 
English, styles, 76 
French, cathedral develop- 
ment, 74, 76; architectural 
problems, 74, 77; carving 
applied, 79, 80 

Netherlandish, town and guild 
halls, 78 

Renaissance period 
English, 174 
French, secular architecture 

developed, 172-173 
German, 173-174 
Italian, classical influence, 
169; periods, 170; Floren- 
tine leadership, 170; Rome 
and Venice, 171; academic 


period, 172 
Spanish, Italian influence, 173 
Baroque period, XVII—mid- 


XVIII century 

English, foreign influences and 
Wren, 237; British Palla- 
dian school, Vanbrugh and 
Kent, 267 

Previchpye22 7-220,6 230.221 
Baroque-rococo, 260-261 

Italian, Bernini, 236 

Classical revival, mid-XVIII- 

early XIX century 

English, Adams style, 328 

French, 315, 317-318, 320-322; 
Empire, 327, 330, 332-333 


GENERAL INDEX 


Architrave, see Woodwork, Archi- 
tectural 

Arm-chairs, see Furniture, Chairs 

Armoire, see Furniture 

Arms and Armor, 
Barbaric, Germanic, 4, 7 il.; 
Renaissance period, character- 
istics, 190-191; Negroli casque, 
x 

Arras tapestries, see Tapestries 

Ascension, Ihe, enameled shrine, 
104 

Assuit, jewelry from, 40 

Assumption of the Virgin, The, 
painting by Benvenuto di 
Giovanni, XVili 

Assyrian antiquities, xx, Xxi 

Augsburg silver, see Metalwork 

Austria, XVII-XVIII century, 
political and social changes, 
2212519 -2525:250 

Autumnal sacrifice, painting attrib- 
uted to Sauvage, 358 


B 


Bacchus, Triumph of, on panels, 


359 

Bagatelle, Chateau of, paintings 
by Robert, from, xx, 350-352 

Balusters, see Sculpture, Architec- 
tural 

Baptism, The, enameled plaque, 
58, 59 il. 

Baron, Stanislas, collection, 6 

Baroque art, 219-237, rooms, 238— 
248; rococo style, 251-268, 
rooms, 269-300; superseded by 
classical style, 266, 313-322 

Bathing pool, painting by Robert, 
352 

Battersea enamels, see Enamels 

Baugerais Abbey, figures from, 137 

Beauvais tapestry, see Tapestries 

Bed, see Furniture 

Benedictine Order, 28 

Bergéres, see Furniture, Chairs 

Bibelots, XVIII century, 340-342, 
357; carnets de bal, 341 il., 353, 
360; comfit boxes (bonbonniéres), 
341, 342, 357, 360; étuis, 360; 
navette, 360; nécessaires, 360; 
needlecase, in vernis Martin, 
353; scent bottles, Meissen, 
352-353, 360; snuff boxes (taba- 


tiéres), 341-342, 353, 357, 360; 
vanity boxes, 360 ) 
Birds, exotic, paintings of, 270 
Biron, Chateau de, sculpture from, 
132-136 
Bocal, 245 
Botsertes, see Woodwork 
Bonbonnteéres, see Bibelots 
Book-cases, see Woodwork, Archi- 


tectural 
Book-covers, 25, 32, 51-52, 61 il., 
63, 104; see also Enamels; 


Ivories; Metalwork 

Books, imitation, in door paneling, 
283 ili 24a 

Bowl, agate, 245 

Boxwood carvings, see Sculpture 

Bracelets, gold, 4o il.; with enamel, 
207 

Brackets, see Furniture 

Brazier, see Wood-carvings 

Bronzes, see Metalwork; Ormolu; 
Sculpture 

Brooches, see Fibulae 

Brussels tapestries, see Tapestries 

Buckets, holy water, enamel, 102; 
ivory, 47 il.; silver (Albanian 
Treasure), 35, 36 il. 

Buckles, 4 il., 7 il., 9 il., 35 il. 

Burgundian School, see Tapestries; 
Sculpture 

Byzantine art, general develop- 
ment of, 18-24; enameling, 54, 
55, 50; ivory carving, 19 il., 22, 
23, 44-49; jewelry, 5, 39-41 il., 
55; metalwork, 35-38 


C 


Cabinet-makers, 209 il., 210, 324, 
328 

Cabinets, see Furniture 

Calcar School, see Sculpture 

“Cana’* Vases 127 diet ee 

Candlesticks, 60 il., 100, 102, 246 

Carnets de bal, see Bibelots 

Carolingian art, development of, 
8, 24-26 

Carpets, Indian, xx 

Carthusian Order, 28 

Carvings, see Crystals; Sculpture; 
Wood-carvings; Woodwork 

Caryatids, gilt-bronze, 289; stone, 
159 

Caskets, copper-gilt, 213 il., 214; 


380 


GENERAL INDEX 


crystal, 197; ivory, 46 il., 110, 
111 il.; silver and niello, 246 
Cassoni, see Furniture 
Cathedrals, development of, 70, 
74, 76-80 
Catholic Reformation, 168-169 
Cave, The, painting by Robert, 


352 

Ceiling decorations, 288, 280, 295, 
297 

“Cellini cup,’’ 167 il., 205 

Celtic antiquities, 5, 6 

Censers, 122 

Ceramics, see Faience; Majolica; 
Porcelain 

Certosa Convent, 112 

Chairs, see Furniture 

Chalicessit20. 200.11,, 201, 211 

Champlevé enamel, see Enamels 

Chasse aux oiseaux, 103 

Chasses, copper and _ silver-gilt, 
61 il., 62; crystal, 103; enamel, 


7 100,102 

Chasuble, 150 

Chateaux, see Bagatelle; Biron; 
Marly; Saint Cloud; Versailles 

Cherubs’ heads, marble, 159; 
wood, 296 


Chessmen, 50, 52, 110 

Chests, see Furniture 

Children, figures of, in ormolu, 
277, 278, 280; at play, grisaille, 
by De Wit, 295; in painting 
by Sauvage, 359 

Chinese bronze vessel, xx 

Chinese porcelain vase, 
mount, 272 

Chinotsertes, 270, 357 

Choir stalls, see Furniture 

Christ, Among the Doctors, wood 
relief, 143-144; Appearing to 
the Apostles, on faience plate, 
303; Crucified, bronze-gilt fig- 
ure, 99 il.; Head of, from stone 
statue, 115; Scenes from the 
life of, enameled shrine, 91 il., 
104, ivory altar-piece, 110, 
tapestries, 206; see also Adora- 
tion of the Magi; Baptism; 
Crucifixion; Descent from the 
Cross; Entombment; Entrance 
into Jerusalem; Flagellation; 
Iconography; Journey to Em- 

_ maus; Nativity; Pieta; Resur- 

rection; Virgin and Child 


ormolu 


Ciboria, enamel, 
45 il. 

Cistercian Order, influence on 
architecture, 28, 76, 169 

Classical antiquities, xx, 5, 6, 42, 


105; ivory, 43, 


43 

Classical influence on Early Chris- 
tian art, 16, 18; on Byzantine 
art, 12, 21; on Germanic art, 
10; on Romanesque art, 32, 
169; on Renaissance art, 73, 
169-192; on XVIII century 
art, 315-335 

Classical ruins, paintings by Ro- 
bert, 278 

Clermont-Ferrand, pax from, 127 

(HOEKS, 207. 200; 315)1450,00rMa- 
ments for, in ormolu, 277-278 

Cloisonné enamel, see Enamels 

Colonna altarpiece, by Raphael, 
xix, 185 il., 188 

Columbus, Christopher, portrait by 
Sebastiano del Piombo, xviii 

Columns, stone, see Sculpture, 
Architectural 

Comfit boxes, see Bibelots 

Communes, The, 27-28, 70 

Compostella, see Saints, James 

Conques, medallions from church 
at, 57 

Console-tables, see Furniture 

Constantinople, 12, 15, 19, 20 

Coquille, definition, 259 

Costume, Germanic, 4, 5 

Costume accessories, 125 

Counter Reformation, 220 

Creation, The, ivory plaque, 49 

Cross, The True, ivory box fer reli- 
quary of, 47; reliquary of, 55 il., 
56 


Crosses, 100-101; processional, 62, 
122, 124 

Croziers, enamel, 105, 123; ivory, 
50, 110 

Crucifixes, 99, 100 il., 101 

Crucifixion, The, enamel plaques, 
$5). 12504 1207 -gem=2055 
ivory plaques, 47, 49 il., 50, 
51 il.; rosary bead, 127; tap- 
estry, 63; wood-carving, 150 

Crusades, 20, 28 

Crusades of Saint Louis, miniature 
on parchment, 122 

Crystals, collection, xx 
Romanesque period, 60, 62 


381 


GENERAL INDEX 


Renaissance period, 192, 193 il., 


196 
Flemish, shrine by van Via- 
nen, 197 il. 


German, cup with silver base, 


245 
Italian, candlesticks, 246; pax, 
196; plaque by Bernardi, 
193 il., 196 
Cups, amber, 197; crystal, 245; 
glass, 12 il., 245; gold (Albanian 
Treasure), 35—36il.; jasper, gold 
mounts (Cellini), 167 il., 205; 
shell, 247, 248; silver and silver- 
pill, 208/31, siene orale 
214, 215, 245, 246; see also 
Metalwork 
Cyprus Treasure, 36-39 


D 


David, on silver plates, 37 il., 38; 
on tapestries, 115 il. 

Day-bed (duchesse), see Furniture 

Death, wood sculpture, 199 

Decorative paintings, see Paintings, 
Decorative 

Delafosse style, 299 

Deluge, stained-glass window, 195 

Descent from the Cross, The, 
enameled shrine, 104; limestone 
group: (Biron), 133590135; 
wood-carving, 155 

Diana, on a stag, silver-gilt, 247 il. 

Dijon, Boiseries from, xxi, 343- 


349 

Diptychs, enamel, 125; ivory, 1gil., 
33 il., 44, 48, 52, 90 il., 108, 109 
il., 117-119 il. 

Directoire style, see French art, 
XVIII century 

Dishes, silver-gilt, 207 il.; see also 
Plates 

Dolphin motive, on panel, 241 

Door panels, see Woodwork, Archi- 
tectural 

Doors, see Woodwork, Architec- 
tural 

Dormition of the Virgin, see Virgin 

Drinking vessels, 128, 129 il, 245, 
246; see also Metalwork 

Dutch art, XVII-—X VIII centuries, 
effect of political, social, and 
religious changes, 22 1-222, 256; 
influence of France, 266 


382 


E 


Early Christian art, development 
of, in architecture, 17; ivory 
carving, 42-45; jewelry, 40-42; 
metalwork, 37-38; sculpture, 
16-17 

Earrings, 40, 55 

Eastern Empire, 12, 18-19, 20, 22 

Education of the Virgin, sandstone 
group, 156, 157 il. 

Egyptian antiquities, x1x, xx, 40, 42 

Elijah, bronze plaque, 209 


Embroideries, 101, 148; see also 
Upholstery 
Empire style, see French art, XIX 
century 
Enamels 
Byzantine period, cloisonné proc- 
ess, 32, 54, 92; medallions 


and jewelry (Russo-Byzan- 
tine), 53 il., 55; reliquary for 
True Cross, 55 il., 56 
Romanesque period, champlevé 
process, 32, 57, 92, 96 
French, Limoges, medallions, 
57, 62; plaques, 57 
Mosan, crucifix, 60; plaques, 
58, 59 il. 
German, Rhenish, altar, 60; 
plaques, 32 il., 59-60 
Gothic period, champlevé, 92, 
96, 97 il.; cloisonné, 91, 96; 
encrusted, 126, 191; paint- 
ed, 92, 125, 126; translu- 
cent, 93, 122, 124,-125 
French, Limoges, holy water 
bucket, 102; chasses, 97 
il., 102; processional cross, 
100; plaques, 93 il., 99, 
101 il., 125 il., 126; shrines, 
gt il., 104 
German, Rhenish, reliquary, 
99-100; shrine, 98 
Italian, crosses, 124; medal- 
lions, 125, ornaments, 125; 
panels, 126 
Spanish, ornaments, 125 
Renaissance period, cloisonné 
and champlevé, 207; en- 
crusted, 191; painted, 191- 
192, 204, 205 
Italian, paxes, 191 il., 204-205 
Spanish, jewelry, 207; stir- 
rups. 207 


GENERAL INDEX 


Baroque period (painted) 
English, Battersea, bibelots, 


360 
French, bibelots, 341, 342; 
watch cases, 367 
Enghien, tapestry from, 139 
English art 
Gothic period, political develop- 


ments allecting, © 27, 638; 
architectural styles devel- 
oped, 76 


Renaissance period, Tudor style 
in architecture, 174; effect 
of Italian and _ Flemish 
sculptors, 180 

Baroque period, XVII—mid- 
XVIII century, political and 
economic influences, 222, 
251, 252, 256; French influ- 
ence, 237, 267, 268; rise of 
national schools, 267 

Classical revival, second half of 

©  XVITI-XIX century, na- 
tional art, 327, 328, 3209; in- 
fluence of Robert Adam, 328; 
influence of French Empire 
styles, 333-334; Italian in- 
fluence, 327 

Entombment, on enameled shrine, 
104; ivory diptych, 109 il.; 
limestone group from Biron, 

_ 133 il, 134; wood-carving, 150 

Etuts, see Bibelots 

Eurydice, marble relief, 201 

Evangelists, Symbols of, on enam- 
eled cross, 101, plaques, 58- 
60, 61, 99, shrine, 104; on ivory 
box, 50, crucifix, 50, plaques, 

48, 50 

Ewer and basin, silver-gilt, 245— 
246 

Ewers, gilt-bronze, 207; crystal, 
197; porcelain, 210 il. 


le 


Faience, French, 159, 301-309 

XVI-XVII_ centuries, Lyons, 
160; Nevers, 160 il.; Palissy, 
159, 160, 193; Saint-Por- 
chaire, 159, 193 

XVII-XIX centuries, Apt, 308; 
Bordeaux, 304; Marseilles, 
301, 302, 308, 3509, Veuve 
Perrin influence, 308; Mous- 


tiers, 301, 306, 309; Berain 
influence, 302, 304, Olery 
influence, 306, Toro influ- 
ence, 302; Rouen, 234, 308, 
309, rayonnant style, 244, 
245 il., 302, 304, 306, a la 
corne Style, 265, 301, 302, 303 
il., 308, Guillibaud influence, 
307, Oriental style, 307; 
Sceaux, 301, 302, 308, 309, 
359; Strasbourg, 301, 302 
Fibulae, 9 il., 10, 11 il. 
Fieschi family, reliquary from, 56 
Flagellation, The, 204, 205 il., 208 
Flagon, 127 il., 128 
Flavigny, stained glass from, 195 
Font, marble, 64 
Fountain, model of, by Giovanni 
Bologna, 206 
Fountains, 242 
Fox and Grapes, La Fontaine’s 
Fable, on panel, 284 
Frames, see Furniture; Metalwork 
France 
XVII century, political and so- 
cial changes, 219-220, 222- 
226; literature and philoso- 
phy, 225 
XVIII century, first half, politi- 
cal and social changes, 251— 
257; literature and _philos- 
ophy, 257, 313 
XVIII century, second half, 
political and social changes, 
316-317, 329-330; literature 
and philosophy, 313-315 
XIX century, political and so- 
cial changes, 330, 333, 334- 
335 
French Art 
Gallo-Roman and Merovingian 
periods, 8-12 
Carolingian and Romanesque 
periods, Byzantine influence 
under Charlemagne, 24; 
monastic protection, 24-25; 
literature, 28; architecture, 
28; minor arts, 32 
Gothic period, effect of social 
conditions, 68; cathedral de- 
velopment, 76-80; suprem- 
acy in sculpture, 80, 81, 82; 
realistic trend in painting, 
85, in sculpture, 82-83; Fou- 
quet and Italian influence, 88 


383 


GENERAL INDEX 


Renaissance period, political 
causes affecting, 106; na- 
tional characteristics in ar- 
chitecture,” 172) 173," 100; 
in sculpture, 180; Italian in- 
fluence on painting, 186; on 
minor arts, 190-192 

Baroque period, XVII-—mid- 
XVIII century 
XVII century 

Louis XIV style, 226-236; 
foreign influences, 226, 
232; influence on Eu- 
rope, 219, 227, 251, 256—- 
257, 266; rooms, 238- 
248 

XVIII century, first half 

Late Louis XIV style, 257- 
258; contrast with XVII 
century, 258-259; Re- 
gency, early rococo style, 
258-268; rooms, 269- 
273, 282-289 

Louis XV, late rococo style, 
258-268; influence on 
Europe, 266-268; rooms, 
290-300 

Classical revival 

XVIII century, second half, 
French influence on Eu- 
rope, 327-328; late Louis 
XV style, decline of the 
rococo, 266, 313, 314, 320; 
survival of the rococo 
spirit in decoration, 3 16, in 
sculpture, 319, in painting, 
319; classical revival, 313- 
322; English influences, 
3106 

Louis XVI style, transitional 
period, 320-321; neo- 
classicism, 316, 329; rooms, 
336-361 

Republic and Directoire styles, 
329-330, 331 

XIX century, early, influence 
of Napoleon and the Na- 
poleonic wars, 330, 331; 
Empire style, 330-333; 
David, Percier, Fontaine, 
330; influence on Europe, 
333-334; decline and de- 
terioration, 334-335 

Fuentes, processional cross from, 
62 


Furniture 
Gothic period, characteristics, 
88, 89 il.; chest, 139, 152; 
canopied seat, 152 
Renaissance period 
French, characteristics, 190; 
cabinets, 209 il., 210 
Italian, architectural form, 
classical ornament, 189; 
cassoni, gesso, gilt, 161 
Baroque period, XVII-mid- 
XVIII century 
English, Chippendale style, 
268, 328 
French 
Louis XIV style, 232, 234; 
influence of Flemish and 
Italian styles, 229; Gob- 
elins Manufacture Roy- 
ale des Meubles, 229, 232; 
work of the Boulles, 232, 
234; ornament, 232, 234; 
use of silver, 234; rooms, 
238-244 
Regency style, 264; uphol- 
stering, 266; rooms, 269- 
27352022209 
Louis XV style, rooms, 290— 
300 
Classical revival, mid-XVIII- 
early XIX century 
English, Adam style, 328; 
Sheraton style, 328-329 
French, Louis XVI style, 
322-325, cabinet-makers 
and bronze-makers, 324, 
use of Sévres, 325; Em- 
pire style, 327 
By form 
Armoire (Louis XIV), 238, 
(Louis XV), 295; bed (Louis 
XVI), 348; brackets (consoles) 
(Louis XIV), 243, (early 
XVIII century), 270, 284, 297, 
(Louis XV), 294, (Louis XVI), 
336; chairs (Louis XIV). 24% 
243, 244, 269, 270, 282, 
(Transitional), 272, 285, 293. 
(Regency), 272, (Louis XV), 
292, 293, 296, 298, 299, 309, 
(Louis XVI), 348; day-bed 
(duchesse), 300; frames (Louis 
XV), 2095; frames, mirror 
(Louis XIV), 243, (Regency), 
269, 289, (Louis XVI), 336, 


384 


GENERAL 


352, 354, 350; frames, medal- 
lions, 352; frame, painting, 
(Louis XIV), 240, (c. 1750), 
289; frame, tapestry (Re- 
gency), 272, (Louis XVI), 340; 
frames, details, (Louis XV), 
200;mirrors, use, 235, 243, 
290, 348, 356; pedestal (Louis 
XIV), 244, (Louis XVI), 281; 
screen, fire, (Louis XIV), 269; 
sconces, carved wood (Louis 
XV), 2092; tables, console 
(Louis XIV), 243, 285, (early 
XVIII century), 270, 272, 273, 
282, 283 il., 286, 293, (Louis 
XV), 292, 299, (Louis XVI), 
348, 359; tables, side (late 
XVIII century), 281, (Louis 
XVI), 356; tables, writing, 
(Louis XIV), 270; torchéres 
(Louis XIV), 244, 270, (Louis 
XVI), 356 


G 


Gallery views, F 9, 239; F 10, al- 
coves2ol si 12,'283°.F 13,207; 
4,201; F-20, library, 345; 
F 21, salon, 347; F 22, bedroom, 
323 ae | 

Gallo-Roman antiquities, xx, XxI, 


5» 
Gardens, formal, 242 
Garland collection of Chinese por- 
celains, XVlii 
Gaulin, Hétel, botsertes from, xxi, 
343-349 
Gems, 6, 42, 205 
German art 
Carolingian period, develop- 
ment of sculpture, 26 
Romanesque period, effect of 
political changes on, 27 
Gothic period, effect of collapse 
of Holy Roman Empire on, 
68; development of minia- 
ture and panel paintings, 85; 
Flemish influence, 86; French 
influence on sculpture, 81 
Renaissance period, effect of 
political changes, 167; Gothic 
survivals in architecture, 
173-174; foreign sculptors, 
180; paintings, mingling of 
Gothic and Renaissance ele- 


INDEX 


ments, 187; miniature paint- 
ing, 187; minor arts, 187-192 
Baroque period, XVIII century, 
influence of political and re- 
ligious changes, 221, 251; 
character, 264, 267; French 
style in Prussia, 266 
Classical revival, influence of 
French Empire styles, 334 
Germanic antiquities, xx, xxi, 3-12 
Cslassonbarbaric. 2. Onental, xx; 
Venetian, 192, 210; see also Gold 
glass; Verre eglomisé 
Glass, Stained, Romanesque, 33; 
Gothic, 84; windows, 116, 195 
Globes, astronomical, 212; celestial 
and terrestrial, 359 
Gobelins tapestry, see Tapestries 
Gold glass, 41-42 
Golden ‘Eagle, story of, on bone 
panels from casket, 112 
Gothic art, general development 
of, 67—74; architecture, 74— 
80; enameling, 91-92, 96-105, 
124-127; furniture, 88, 80, 1309, 
152; ivory carving, 90-91, 105- 
114, I17-120; metalwork, 91, 
99, 120-123, 127-128; painting, 
84-88, 174; sculpture, 80-83, 
132-138, 140-146, 150-157; 
stained glass, 116, 130; tapestry 
weaving, 89-90, 114-115, 130- 
131; wood-carving, 140-146 
Gothic cathedral, 76, 78-80 
Grandmond, enamel from, 101 
Gréau collection, Classical and 
Egyptian antiquities, xxi 


H 


Hampton Court Palace, 237 

Hellenistic art, see Classical art 

Henri II ware, see Faience, X VI-— 
XVII centuries, Saint-Porchaire 

Henry IV, on over-door, 309 

Hercules and Omphale, by Le 
Moine, 289 

Hoentschel, Georges, collection, 
post-Renaissance section (wood- 
work, furniture, decorative 
paintings, and ormolu), given, 
XVill; mediaeval and Renais- 
sance section (sculpture, tapes- 
tries, and woodwork), lent, 
XVill, given, xix, installed, 238 


385 


GENERAL INDEX 


Holland, see Dutch art 

Holy Roman Empire, 27, 68 

Holy water buckets, see Buckets 

Honestone, miniature carvings, see 
Sculpture 

Hotel Gaulin, see Gaulin 

Humanism, 74, 165, 166, 220 

Hunting scene, style of Huet, 263 
il., 289 


Iconoclastic controversy, 20, 21, 
22, 46 
Iconography 
Early Christian, symbols and 
episodes, 16; themes, types of 
Christ, 18 
Byzantine, secular themes, 22; 
proportions, 22 
Romanesque, 34 
Gothic, cathedral influence, 80; 
subjects, 93; influence of 
mystery plays on, 153 
Issoudun, statuette from hospital 
at, 154 ul: 
Italian art 
Early Christian period, Byzan- 
tine influence, 23, 34 
Gothic period, little develop- 
ment in architecture, 76, 160; 
sculpture, 82; birth of mod- 
ern painting, 84; Giotto and 
his school, 85 
Renaissance period, artistic su- 
premacy, political weakness, 
166-168; Early Renaissance, 
leadership of Florence, in 
architecture, 170; in paint- 
ing, 180, nationalistic tend- 
encies, 181, 182, 183; in 
sculpture, “V7OP eazy. W753 
High Renaissance, in archi- 
tecture, 171; In engraving, 
187-188; in painting, 184, 
185, 186; in sculpture, 178— 
179 
Baroque period, XVII-XVIII 
centuries, political and eco- 
nomic influences, 220, 256; 
rococo style, 264, 267; Vene- 
tian school, 267 
I vories 
Egyptian, cup, 42; statuettes, 42 


Classical, box, 43, plaques, 43 
Early Christian, box, 43; cibor- 
ium, 43, 45 il.; diptych, 44; 
pyxes, 44, 45 il. 
Byzantine, caskets, 46 il.; dip- 
tych,. (19 Gees: 
47 il., 49 
Carolingian, portable altar, 48; 
holy water bucket, 47 il., 48 
Romanesque, book-covers, 50, 
51; chessmen, 52; crozier, 50; 
diptych, 33 il., 52; oliphants, 
52; plaques, 50, 51 il. 
Gothic, development, 
105-106 
English, diptychs, 117, 118 
ily Worm 
French, Paris, ‘‘ Atelier of the 
Diptychs of the Passion,” 
90 il., 108, 117; “Atelier 
of the Diptychs with Ro- 
settes,’’ 108, 109 il.; ““Ate- 
lier of the Diptychs of the 
Treasury of Soissons,”’ 106, 
107, 108, 109 il.; “Atelier 
of the Tabernacles of the 
Virgin,’ 107, 108, 109, il.; 
caskets, secular scenes, 
110, 111 il.; statuettes, 112, 
Gig wil 
Italian, work of the Embria- 
chi, Q1,>) 1127 tgs aoa 
altarpiece, 119, plaques 
from caskets, 112 
Renaissance, decline of the art, 
189; pendant, 127; statuette, 
208 


90-91; 


i 


Jasper cup, Cellini (?), 167 il., 205 
Jesuits, 220 
Jewelry, collection, xx 
Barbaric, ornaments in “‘Alban- 
ian Treasure, 4sie 450n4 
Gallo-Roman, 5, 6; Ger- 
manic, 9, 10; Merovingian, 
II 
Byzantine, 5; necklaces and 
bracelets in “Cyprus Treas- 
ure,’ 39-40, 41 il.; enameled 
earrings, 55 
Gothic, Italian enameled orna- 
ments; 1255126, 127 


386 


GENERAL INDEX 


Renaissance, characteristics, 190, 
202-2067, 
German, “lantern jewel,’’ 203; 
morse and plaque, 248 
Italian, pendants, 202, 203 
Jonah, stone relief, 40; on nautilus 
shell cup, 247 
Joseph of Arimathea (?), wood 
statue, 146 
Joshua, on ivory plaque, 46, 47 il. 
Journey to Emmaus, enameled 
shrine, 104; ivory diptych, 52 
Jumati monastery, Byzantine ena- 
mels from, 55 
Justice, symbolic figure on medal- 
lion, 242 


K 


Karavas, Cyprus, treasure found 
at, 38, 39 


fs 


Lamp, ormolu, 281; mosque lamps, 
glass, xx 

Last Judgment, on wrought-iron 
lock, 121; on pendant, 127 

Lavagna, reliquary from, 56 

Lazarus, Raising of, on gold-glass 
plate, 42 

Le Breton collection of French 
faience, xx, 301-309 

Leda, Triumph of, 
sketch, 288 

Limoges, center of enameling in- 
dustry, see Enamels 

Lion masks, 243 

Lion of the Tribe of Judah, stone 
relief, 63 

Literature, effect on Gothic and 
Renaissance art, 73-74, 93-04; 
on baroque art, 225-226, 257; 
in the classical revival, 313, 314 

Loan exhibition of the Morgan col- 
lections, XVill, XIX, XX 

Locks, iron, 121; ormolu, 275, 276 

Loire School, see Sculpture 

Louis XIV, style, see French art, 
XVII-XVIII centuries 

Louis XV, style, see French art, 
XVIII century 

Louis XVI, style, see French art, 
XVIII century 

Louvre, 230, 232 


decorative 


M 


Majolica, 193 
Mantels, Rouen faience, 309; see 
also Sculpture, Architectural; 
Woodwork, Architectural 
Manuscripts, illuminated, 6, 25, 32— 
33, 84 
Marbles, see Sculpture 
Marfels, Carl, collection of watches, 
365 
Marly, Chateau de, doors from, 
241-242 
Marquetry, 220, 281 
Marseilles faience, see Faience 
Masks, lead, 242; ormolu, 275, 276, 
277; stone, 243 
Mattabruna, Story of, on bone 
panels from casket, 112 
Mazer, 128 
Medallions, enamel, 53 il., 55, 57, 
125, 127; boxwood and hone- 
stone, 198; marble, 158, 161; 
terracotta, 159; see also Sculp- 
ture 
Medici porcelain, see Porcelain 
Meissen porcelain, see Porcelain 
Merovingian antiquities, xx, 6, 8 
Metalwork 
Barbaric, from the Caucasus, 5; 
Scytho-Siberian, 5 
Early Christian and Byzantine 
periods, gold and silver ves- 
sels, ‘Albanian Treasure,’ 
35-36; Syrian dishes, “Cy- 
prus Treasure,” 36-38 
Romanesque period, methods 
and objects, 32; examples, 
book-cover, 61 il., candle- 
stick, 60 il., chasse, 61 il., 62. 
cross, 62 il., detached figures, 
copper and bronze, 99 
Gothic period 
French, silver censers, 122; 
gold figure from pax, 126 
il., 127; lock, 121; reliqua- 
ries, Saint Margaret, 103 
il., Saint Thomas a Becket, 
1OZ eoaiInt, Vlicix,claaaie 
statuette, Saint Christo- 
pher, 120 il. 
German, censer, 122; drinking 
horns, 128, 129 il.; flagon, 
127 is, 120 -"mazereio 
Hungarian, chalice, 128 


387 


GENERAL INDEX 


Italian, monstrance, 122; pro- 
cessional cross, 124 
Spanish, reliquary, 121 il.; 
statuette, 121 
Renaissance period 
English, jugs, 208 
German, caskets, 213 il., 214, 
246; chalice, 200 il., 201; 
cups, with metal mounts, 
crystal,°245,  shell,-212; 
247, Silver and gilt, 211 il., 
S12 iM Ey ies Aen 
(Diana), 247 il., 248; ewer 
and basin, 246; sauce boat, 
248 
Italian, candlesticks, 246; cup, 
jasper with gold mounts 
(Cellini), 167 il., 205; door 
of tabernacle, copper-gilt, 
208; ewer, gilt-bronze, 207; 
knocker, bronze, 209 
Portuguese, dishes, 206-207 il. 
Spanish, chalice, 211; rose- 
water dish, 211 
Baroque period 
French, use of ironwork, 234— 
235, 265, 326; lead masks 
from fountain, 242 
See also Ormolu; Sculpture 
Meuse, Region of, see Enamels, 
Mosan 
Miniature carvings, in boxwood 
and honestone, 197, 198, 199; 
in ivory, 199 
Miniature paintings, on ivory for 
bibelots, 341-342, 360; in 
manuscripts, 80, 84, 85; on 
parchment, Crusades of Saint 
Louis, 122 
Mirror-frames, see 
Sculpture 
Mirrors, use in Baroque period, 
235, 243, 290; in Louis XVI 
period, 348 
Monstrances, 121 il., 122; reliquary 
in shape of, 79 il., 123 
Monvaerni,”’ enamels attributed 
to, 126 
Morses, 104, 248 
Moses and the Law, stained-glass 
window, 195 
Mosque lamps, xx 
Mourners, statuettes, 83 il., 129- 
130 
Moustiers faience, see Faience 


Furniture; 


ce 


Mural decorations, in Early Chris- 
tian churches, 17; Byzantine, 22; 
Romanesque, 29, 84; sketches 
for, by Tiepolo and Boucher, 
2096 


N 


Nativity, The, niello plaque, 56: 
painted stone relief, 153, 155 il.; 
terracotta group, by Rossellino, 
160, 161 

Nautilus shell cups, 212, 247 

Navettes, see Bibelots 

Nécessaires, see Bibelots 

Necklaces, 39-41 il., 207 

Needlecase, of vernis Martin, see 
Bibelots 

Needlepoint, see Upholstery 

Negroli casque, xx 

Netherlands, see Dutch art 

Nevers ware, see Faience 

Niederbreisig, Germanic antiquities 


from, 5 

Niello, 56, 103, 124, 204, 212 il., 
214, 246 

Nuremberg, see Metalwork; Sculp- 
ture 


O 


Offero, see Saints, Christopher 

Oliphants, 52 

Oriental art, influence on Germanic 
art, 9-10; on Early Christian 
and Byzantine art, 18, 21, 35, 


Ormolu, process of manufacture, 
274-275; style, Louis XIV, 
275; Regency, 264; Louis XV, 
276; Louis XV13977,, 270324, 
356; Empire, 278, 279, 280, 281 

Ornaments, see Jewelry 

Orviedo, reliquary from Cathedral 
of, 205 

Ostrich hunt, on Moustiers ware, 


309 
Ostrich shell cup, 214 
ie 


Paintings 
Romanesque period, manuscript 
illustrations, 32 
Gothic period, manuscript illus- 
trations, 84 


388 


GENERAL INDEX 


Flemish, realistic tendencies, 
86; example, van der Wey- 
den, Annunciation, xx, 86, 
87 il. 

French, miniature paintings, 
84, 122 

Italian, imitation of nature, 
84; growth of schools, 85 

Renaissance period, 180-187 

Flemish, blending of Gothic 
and Renaissance forms, 186 

French, Italian influence, 186; 
miniature painters, 187 

German, artists, 186 


Italian, early development, 
181; Florentine school, 
181-182; other schools, 
182-186; examples, Ra- 


phael, Madonna, xix, 185 
il, 188; Benvenuto di 
Giovanni, Assumption, 
Xvill; Sebastiano del Piom- 
bo, Portrait of Columbus, 
XViil 

Spanish, influenced by Italy, 
186 

XVII-XIX century 

Dutch, XVII century, 237 

English, XVIII century, na- 
tional character, 267, 320; 
portrait painters, 236, 267, 
329; landscape painters, 


329 

Flemish, XVII century, 236 

French, XVII century, foreign 
influences, 228, 236-237; 
influence of Lebrun, 229— 
230, 235; portraiture, 231; 
influence of Rubens, 236; 
XVIII century, first half, 
261; second half, 319-320; 
example, 336; early XIX 
century, 330-332 

Italian, XVIII century, Vene- 
tian school, 267, example, 


297 
Spanish, XVII century, 236 
Paintings, Decorative 

French, XVII century, examples, 
240; 2..V1lliscentury, 261— 
263; examples, 288, 280, 292, 
294, 295, 296, 297, 299, 307; 
on panels, 337, 338, (@ la 
turque), 338-339 il.; on can- 
vas, 307, 336, 340, 354, 356- 


357, 358, 359, (by Robert), 
278, 350-352; painted walls, 
340, 354, 350 
Palaeologi, 20, 22 
Palissy ware, see Faience 
Panels, see Woodwork, Architec- 
tural 
Paschal Lamb, enameled crozier, 
105; stained glass, 116 
Patronage, effects of, 88, 168, 172, 
179;1220,°234, 255, 316 
Pavia, panel from, 112 
Paxes, crystal, 196, 204; gold 
figure from, 126 il., 127; silver- 
gilt, 191 il., 204, 205 il. 
Pectoral, gold, 40 
Pedestals, see Furniture 
Pendants, 104, 127, 203, 204 
Pentecost, alabaster relief, 
wood-carvings, 150 
Philosophes, Les, influence of, 313 
Phylactery reliquary, 123 
Pierpont Morgan Wing, xxi 
Pieta, The, limestone group, Biron, 
Pa 45q483 boll.cas palnted = terra- 
cotta group, 158 
Pilasters, see Woodwork, Architec- 
tural 
Plaques, barbaric, 5 il.; bronze, 
208-209; crystal, 193 il., 196; 
enamel, 32 il., 57, 58, 59 il., 
60, 101, 124, 125-126; gold and 
glass, 42; honestone, 200-201 
Ue eiVorviasl Ovi, 236%. 025 11, 
Ayal, AG alli, 5051.5 1 all, 2523 
jeweled, 248 
Plates, faience, 244,245 il., 265, 303, 
304, 307, 309; gold glass, 42; 
silver, “Cyprus Treasure,’ 36— 
38 
Pleurants, 129 
Pluto and Persephone, on silver 
sauce boat, 248 
Polychromy on sculpture, 30, 141- 


148; 


142 
Porcelain 
Chinese, Garland collection lent, 
XVili; vase with ormolu 


mounts, 272 
French, Rouen, 304 
German, Meissen, 352 
Italian, Medici, 210 
Portraiture, French, XVII 
tury, 231-232 
Pottery, see Faience; Majolica 


cen- 


389 


GENERAL INDEX 


Power, symbolic figure on medal- 
lion, 242 

Price, F. H. Hilton, collection of 
watches, 365 

Processional crosses, see Crosses 

Protestant Revolution, 70, 168 

Putti, 244 

Pygmalion and Galatea, painting, 
354, 350 

Pyxes, enamel, 100; ivory, 44, 45 
il., 110 


Q 


Queckenberg collection of Ger- 
manic antiquities, 5 


R 


Ravenna, 23, 44, 50 

Regency style, see French art, 
XVIII century 

Rienkenhagen, flagon from, 127 il., 
128 

Reliefs, see Ivories; Sculpture; 
Wood-carvings; Woodwork 

Reliquaries, crystal, 62, 63 il., 128; 
enamel, for the True Cross, 55 
il., 56; phylactery, 123; quatre- 
foil, 100; silver-gilt, monstrance 
shape,"79 iL 124) 1237 of aint 
Margaret, 103; of Saint Thomas 
a Becket, 103; of Saint Yrieix, 
12 3et 

Renaissance art, general develop- 
ment of, 165-169; architecture, 
169-174; armor, I90—-I91; ce- 
ramics, 193, 210; carving of 
crystals, 192, 196-197; enamel- 
ing, 190-192; engraving, 187— 
188; furniture, 189-190, 210; 
glass, 192, 210, 245; ivory 
carving, 189, 208; jewelry, 
190, 202-203; metalwork, 190, 
201, 205-215, 248; painting, 
84-85, 174, 180-187; sculpture, 
174-180, 188-189, 107-201; 
stained glass, 1095; tapestry 
weaving, 89, 139, 193-194 

Renaissance church, 170 

Reredos, see Altarpiece 

Resurrection, The, 
shrine, 104 

Revival of Learning, 73-74 


enameled 


Road scene, painting attributed to 
Casanova, 358 

Rocaille, 259-260 

Romanesque art, development of, 
27; architecture, 28-30; enam- 
eling, 32, 57-00, 62, 96; ivory 
carving, 32-33 il., 49-52; manu- 
script illustrations, 32, 33; 
metalwork, 32, 60-62; sculp- 
turé, 30-3277 57 1) o2-0-. 
stained glass, 33 

Rome, 19, 23, 36, 171, 220 

Rosary beads, 189, 197-198, 204 

Rouen ware, see Faience; Porcelain 

Rousseau, bust of, by Houdon, 336 


S 


Sacraments, set of tapestries de- 
picting, xviii, 114-115 il. 

Sacré Coeur, on panel, 243 

Saint Cloud, Chateau of, wood- 
work from, 286-288 

Saint Denis, Church of, 77 

Saint Dominic, Order of, 68, 69 

Saint Francis of Assisi, Order of, 
68, 69, 93 

Saint Gall, Monastery, 25 

Saint Martin of Tours, Monastery, 


25 

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, French 
classic form, 237 

Saint Peter’s (Rome), altar from, 
159 

Saint-Porchaire ware, see Faience 

Saints 

Ambrose, wood-carving, 145 

Andrew, marble relief, 158, 150, 
17740 

Anne, with Virgin and Child, 
statuette, 155; with Virgin, 
156, 357 il. 

Barbara, statuette, 156; marble 
statuette, 130; bust, painted 
wood, 144 il., 145 

Bonaventura, writings, 94 

Bridget of Sweden, statue, 144 

Catherine of Alexandria, gold 
statuette, 126 il., 127; lime- 
stone statue, 156; stone stat- 
uette, 154 il.; bust, painted 
wood, 145 

Christopher with Christ Child, 
silver-gilt statuette, 120 il, 
121 


SV 


GENERAL INDEX 


Elizabeth, see Visitation 
Faith, image, at Conques, 25 
Gabriel, enamels from icon of, 


55 

George, enamel plaque, 53 il.; 
and the dragon, stone statue, 
151; wood statue, 115, 146 

‘ Gregory, statuette, 142 

James, enamel plaque, 1o1 il. 

James the Great, stone statue, 
156 

James of Compostella, sketch 
for ceiling painting, 288 

Jerome, wood carving, 145 

John the Baptist, carving on 
ivory box, 47; enamel me- 
dallion, 53 il.; gold medallion, 
126-127; ivory altarpiece, 
119; stone statue, 154; scenes 
from life of, stone relief, 200 

John the Evangelist, enamel 
plaque, 32 il., 60; ivory altar 
piece, 119; stone sculpture 
(Biron monument), 134; ter- 
racotta bust by Giovanni 
della Robbia, 158 

Leonard, stone sculpture, 63 

Louis, crusades of, 122 

Margaret, reliquary (chasse aux 
O1seaux), 103 

Martin of Tours, alabaster re- 
lief, 148, 149 il.; stone statue, 
151; wood statuette, 150 

Mary Magdalen, statuette, 142 
il., 143, 154; Ivory statuette, 
208; stone sculpture (Biron 
Entombment), 134; terracot- 
ta statuette, 201 

Michael, alabaster statuette, 
156; limestone statue, 83, 
85 il., 130; on enameled cro- 
zier, 105;  silver-mounted 
drinking horn, 128, 129 il. 

Nicholas, wood statuette, 152, 
153 il. 

Paul, on ivory diptych, 44; on 
ivory plaque, 48; stained- 
glass window, 116; wood 
statue, 152 

Peter, on ivory diptych, 44; on 
ivory plaque, 48; stained- 
glass window, 116; wood 
statue, 152; wood statuette, 
150 

Savina, statue, 137-138 


oe 


Thecla, of Iconium, alabaster 
relief, 148, 1409 il. 

Thomas a Becket, reliquary, 
103-104 

Thomas Aquinas, writings, 93 

William, enamel plaque, 56 il., 


Yrieix, reliquary head, 123 il. 
See also Evangelists, Symbols of 
Salerno, ivory plaque from, 49 
Samson, ivory chessman, 50; and 
ReaD on silver-gilt dish, 207 
il. 
Sarcophagi, see Sculpture 
Sauce-boat, silver-gilt, 248 
Sceaux faience, see Faience 
Scent bottles, see Bibelots 
Sconces, see Furniture 
Screen, see Furniture 
Scytho-Siberian metalwork, 5 
Sculpture 
Early Christian period, grave 
monument, Jonah, 40; relief, 
usually on sarcophagi, 17; 
fragment of sarcophagus, 63 
Romanesque period, character- 
istics, 30-32 
French, painted wood statues, 
Bi wile O05 7 12.02 
Spanish, marble font, 63; 
stone relief from Zamora, 
63 
Gothic period, quality, 80-81; 
trend to realism, 82, 174 
English, stone statue, Saint 
James, 156 
Flemish, popularity of wood- 
carving, 140-141; schools, 
Antwerp, 71 il., 150, Brus- 
sels, 154; statuette groups, 
71 il., Apostles, 150, De- 
scent from the Cross, 155, 
Saint Anne, Virgin, and 
Christ, 155, Saint Nicho- 
las, 152, 153 il. 
French, characteristics, 80, 81, 
82; schools, Burgundian, 
83 98120,083 7,1 Olle, O37. 05 
il., 132-136, 137, Touraine, 
153, 1577." ournal, 156, 
Troyes, 130, 137, 154, 156; 
groups, stone, Education 
of the Virgin, 156, 157 il., 
Entombment, 133 il., 134, 
Pieta, 135 il., 136; wood, 


GENERAL INDEX 


Visitation, 101, 102 il.; 
reliefs, stone, Nativity, 
153, 155 il., Tomb relief, 
156; wood, Church Fath- 
ers, 145 il., 146; statues, 
stone, Saint Catherine, 
154, Saint George and the 
Dragon, 151, Saint John, 
154; Dalia Martin, sch5t, 
Saint Michael, 85 il., 130, 
Saint’’*Savina,-. 137-139; 
Virgin and Child, 151 il.; 
wood, Saint George and the 
Dragon, 115, 116, Mourn- 
ing Virgin, 136 il., 137; 
statuettes, marble, Virgin 
and Child, 116 il.; stone, 
Mourners, 83 il., 129, 130, 
Saint Barbara, 130, Saint 
Catherine, 154 il.; wood, 
Virgin and Child, 116 

German, influence of France 
on, 81; popularity of wood- 
carvings, 140-146; Calcar 
school, 142; reliefs, Christ 
among the Doctors, 143, 
Dormition of the Virgin, 
142-143 il.; statuettes, 
Saint Barbara, 14411, 145, 
Saint Mary Magdalen, 
142 il-143 

Spanish, altarpiece, alabaster, 
147, 149 il.; decorative car- 
vings, 130; statue, Joseph 
of Arimathea, 146; statu- 
ette, alabaster, Saint Mi- 
chael, 156 

Renaissance period, character- 

istics, 174-180; materials, 

176; sculptors, 176; wax 

portraits, 204 


cherub’s head, marble, 
159; medallions, 158, 159, 
206; miniature bronze 


plaques, 199; reliefs, mar- 

ble, Adoration of the Magi, 

200-201, Eurydice, 200— 

201, Saint Andrew, 158, 

177 il.; statuettes, Magda-" 

len, 201, Virgin, 158 
Spanish, reliefs, 159 


Baroque period, XVII—mid- 
XVIII century 
French, sculptors, 231-232; 


influence of Italian school, 
228, 232; examples, 233 il., 
244,273, 283 11.284; rococo 
style, 263-264; sculptors, 
263; examples, 243, 244, 
284, 289 

Italian, Bernini, 236; Algardi, 
269 

Classical revival, XVIII 

tury, second half 

French, Naturalistic school, 
318, Houdon, 318, 336, 
Clodion, 319, Chinard, 
332; Classical school, 332 


cen- 


Sculpture, Architectural 


Early Christian period, 17, 22 
Romanesque period, 24, 29 
Gothic period, 80, 155 
Renaissance period, 280-281 
Baroque period, XVII-mid- 
XVIII century 
French, balusters, 242; 
terior decoration, 
mantel, 269 
Classical revival, XVIII 
tury, second half 
French, decoration, 322, 333; 
mantels, 346, 348, 349; 


in- 
264; 


cen- 


Flemish, miniature shrine, panel, 352; Jéro6me Mar- 
carved boxwood, 198, 199 let, 343-349 
il. Seals, 42, 204 


French,boxwood mirror-frame, 


Sévres, factory, 303 


198 Shell cups, 212, 214 
German, boxwood, casket, Shop-front, 359, 361 il. 
198, medallions, 198; hone- Shrines, boxwood, 198, 199 il.; 
stone, reliefs, 199-200, crystal, 196, 197 il.; enamel, 
201 il. gt il., 104; ivory, 108, 109 il.; 
Italian, bust, Saint John, silver and ebony, 246; wood, 
terracotta, 158; fountain, carved, verge ouvrante, 100; 
terracotta, 206; groups, see also Chasses; Diptychs; 
Nativity, terracotta, 160, Triptychs 
Pieta, terracotta, 158;  Singeries, 338 


ae). 


GENERAL 


Situla, ivory, 47 il., 48 
Snuff-boxes, xx, see also Bibelots 
Society of Jesus, 220 
Spanish art 
Romanesque _ period, 
civilization, 26-27 
Gothic period, end of Moorish 
domination, 68; -French in- 
fluence on sculpture, 81; 
Italian influence on painting, 


Moslem 


88 
Renaissance period, _ political 
conditions affecting, 166— 


167; influence of Italian Re- 
naissance, 173, 179-180, 186; 


development of ironwork, 
190, 192 
Baroque period, XVIII cen- 


tury, social changes affect- 
ing, 221, 252, 256 
Stained glass, see Glass, Stained 
Statues, see Sculpture 
Statuettes, ivory, 113 il.; see also 
Ivories; Sculpture 
Stirrups, enameled, 207; ormolu, 


275 
Strap-ends, gold, 35 
Strasbourg faience, see Faience 
Suabian School, sculpture, 144-145 
Sun King, emblem, on stone balus- 
ters, 243 
Swenigorodskoi collection of By- 
zantine enamels, 54 


‘k 


Tabernacles, ivory, 107, 108, 1009; 
door, of copper-gilt, 208; see 
also Shrines 

Tables, see Furniture 

Tankards, silver-gilt, 208 

Tapestries 
Gothic period 

French, Crucifixion, 63; Bur- 
gundian-Arras center, 80, 
example, roses, set, 75 il., 
130-131; Touraine, cen- 
ter, 90, example, Adoration 
of the Magi, 153; Tournai, 
center, 89, example, sacra- 
ments, set, XVIll, 114, 115 

Renaissance period 

Flemish, Enghien, 

Verdure, 139 


example, 


INDEX 


German, Alsace, example, Life 
of Christ, set, 206 
XVII-XVIII century 
Flemish, 229; Brussels, 220, 
example, Antony and Cleo- 
patra, set, 160 
French, 2209, 238, 265-266, 
327, example, 340; Beau- 
vais, 266, 327; Gobelins, 
220, 205-206, 327; Savon- 
nerie, 285; see also Uphol- 
stery 
Tarsus, monument from, 40 
Textiles, 266, 326-327, 348; see 
also Tapestries; Upholstery 
Toiles de Jouy, 327 
Tomb relief, marble, 156 
Tondo, by della Robbia, 206 
Torchéres, see Furniture 
Touraine, see Sculpture; Tapestries 
Tournai, see Sculpture; Tapestries 
Translucent enamel, see Enamels 
Tric-trac, man, 50; board, 204 
Triptychs, enamel, 60; ivory, 107; 
painting under glass, 205 
Triumph of Bacchus, on panels, 


359 

Triumph of Mordecai, study by 
de Troy, 299 

Triumph of Time over Labors of 
Man, paintings, 297 

Trophies, 272, 282, 284, 294, 208, 
337, 346, 358, 359 

Troyes, School of, sculpture, 130, 
138, 156 

Turque, decoration a la, 338-339 


U 


Upholstery, 272-273, 293, 2090; 
needlepoint, 270; tapestry, 266, 
282, 300, 340; velvets, 298 


Vv 


Vanity boxes, see Bibelots 

Venus, in chariot, ormolu, figure, 
280; toilet of, ormolu plaque, 
279; and Adonis, design on 
faience, 309 

Vermand, antiquities from tomb, 


vale 
Vernis Martin, bibelots, 353, 357 
Veroli type of caskets, 46 
Verre eglomisé, 103, 128, 204 


393 


GENERAL INDEX 


Versailles, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 
241, 242, 243, 245, 254, 349, 
description of rooms, 235; 
chapel, 260 

Vestments, 150 

Vierge ouvrante, 100 

Virgin, in Adoration, terracotta 
relief, 206, terracotta statuette, 
158; Assumption of, painting 
by Benvenuto di Giovanni, 
XVili; Coronation of, stained- 
glass window, 116, stone relief, 
63; Dormition of, ivory plaque, 
23 il., 48, wood-carvings, 128, 
142-143; Enthroned, ivory 
plaque, 25 il., 48; Mourning, 
wood statue, 136 il., 137; 
Scenes from the life of, enamel 
plaque, 53 il., ivory diptychs, 
117601 1B ek 1 OMI meee ealse 
Adoration of the Magi; Annun- 
ciation; Crucifixion; Descent 
from the Cross; Education of 
the Virgin; Entombment; 
Pieta; Visitation 

Virgin and Child, enameled plaque, 
60, 61 il.;ivory plaque, 48; stone 
relief, 158; terracotta reliefs, 
161; ivory shrine, 108; painted 
wood shrine, 100; stone statue, 
151; wood statue, 31 il., 36, 
137 il.; wood statuettes, 81 il., 
114, 150; Enthroned, painting, 
by Raphael, xix, 185 il.; ivory 
plaque, 25 il., 48; reliquary, 
127, wood statue, 57 il., 62; 
polychrome wood statue, 116; 
ivory statuettes, 113 il. 

Virgin and Saint John, and holy 
women, carved group, 155 

Vision of the Trinity, copy from 
Tiepolo, 297 

Visitation, carved group, IOI, 102 


il. 
Voltaire, bust by Houdon, 336 


W 


Wager cup, 248 

Wainscoting, see Woodwork, Ar- 
chitectural 

Wall hangings, use in Louis XVI 
period, 348, 349 

Wardrobe, see Furniture, Armotre 

Watches, collection, xx; decoration 


of cases, 369; development, 
365-367; unusual forms, 369 
Wax portraits, 204 
Weissenburg, busts from, 145 
Winter, painted over-door, by La 
Joue, 288 
Wisdom defeating Ignorance, deco- 
rative painting, by Natoire, 
289 
Wood-carvings 
Gothic period, development of, 
in Germany and the Low 
countries, 140-145; types 
and uses, 140; polychrome, 
141; examples, choir stalls, 69 
il., 130, 150, vestibule, 151 
Renaissance period, minute car- 
vings in boxwood and pear- 
wood, 189, 198-199 
Baroque period, brazier, 208, 
299 il.; cherubs’ heads, 296; 
dolphins, 296; medallions, 
242 
See also Sculpture 
Woodwork, Architectural 
Baroque period, French 
Louis XIV, 2267 232;4235: 
examples, architrave (lin- 
tel), 242; doors, 241; man- 
tel, 288; paneling and 
wainscoting, 238, 240, 241, 
243, 260, 270, 284 (ecclesi- 
astical), 243, 
Regency, 260-261; examples, 
269-273, 282-289; doors 
with imitation books,283 il., 
284 ;door panels,286, 287 il.; 
over-doors, 304; paneling, 
269, 270, 282, 297 (eccle- 
siastical), 282-284; pilas- 
ters, 286-287 
Louis XV, examples, alcove- 
head, 295, 297; doors from 
book-cases, 295, 299; doors, 
289, 295, 298; newel post, 
309; over-doors, 298, 299; 
paneling, 272, 284, 286, 
294, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 
(room), 290-291 
Classical revival 
French, transition from ro- 
coco, 321; classical design- 
ers, 321,4 322 -epancimg) 
32 £4322 
Louis XVI, examples, bed 


394 


GENERAL INDEX 


alcove, 336; bed niche, 
348; book-cases, 344; 
doors, 345, 346, 348, 
354; newel post, 300; 
over-doors, 304, 307, 
338, 340, 346, 358; over- 
mantels, 352; paneling 
(carved), 336, 337, 356, 
357, 358, 359, (archi- 
tects’ series), 338, 358, 
(Hotel Gaulin), 343- 
349, (Tuileries set), 354, 


355 il, 356, 357, 358; 
paneling (painted), 337, 
338, 354, 350; pilasters, 
337; shop-front, 359 
Writing case, ivory, 52 
Writing table, see Furniture 


Z 


Zamora, stone relief from, 63 
Zaragoza,alabaster altarpiece from, 
XVIll, 147-149 


seb) 


OF THIS HANDBOOK 
ONE THOUSAND COPIES 
WERE PRINTED 
MAY, 1925 
1,000 ADDITIONAL COPIES 
WERE PRINTED IN 
MARCH, 1926 














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